Removing Deadline for Ratification of Equal Rights Amendment

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership.

I rise today in strong support of the equal rights amendment and the resolution before us.

Today, this body comes together unabashed in our conviction for a future that expands the vision set forth by our Founders. Together, we strive for a nation that advances the notion of equality, that takes up the mantle of the unfinished work that is the American Dream and the practice of government by and for the people--for all the people.

My daughter, Natalie, is just over a year-and-a-half old, and I look forward to telling her one day about today, how the people's House, led by the Chamber's first female Speaker, voted to ensure that the women of her generation will be the first to grow up knowing that the Constitution truly guarantees equal rights.

It feels fitting to close by quoting Shirley Chisolm, the first Black female Member elected to this body and the youngest, until my good friend Lauren Underwood took office last year, who said, when Congress sent the ERA to the States for ratification: ``The time is clearly now to put this House on record for the fullest expression of that equality of opportunity which our Founding Fathers professed. . . . It is not too late to complete the work they left undone.''

I support the resolution.

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