No longer should women be denied the right to vote, no longer should women be treated as second class citizens, no longer should women not be allowed to be a citizen at all.
Ginny Brown-Waite
The world today is changing rapidly, and we are helping to make it better for our children's future.
Part of the redesign of FEMA is that they have so many people on standby, whether it is a retired nurse or a doctor who will take time off to go exactly where they are needed.
American government was founded on a belief and a faith in God and in doing what is right and just.
Through the harsh design of fate, Florida was dealt the unfortunate circumstances of bearing the brunt of not one but two hurricanes, and it appears more dark clouds are poised to visit the Sunshine State.
While women certainly have made great strides toward pay parity in the past 30 years, there is still a gap in earnings between men and women in equivalent professions.
Since President Bush took office in 2001, this Congress has supported an agenda of democracy, freedom and expansion of rights for all peoples throughout the world.
For centuries, the world has heard the oppressed, the downtrodden and the vulnerable cry out for their freedoms, for their rights and for a chance to emerge from the shadows of the tyranny and bloodshed that they had lived with.
The list of non-democratic regimes that have seen significant reforms since 2001 is long and significant.
While all of these are important and significant events, it is the United States' foreign policy that furthers the advancement of freedoms and rights for women that is the most striking for me.
We all know that, unfortunately, the media does not always portray the good things that are happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this will be a great opportunity for us to glean some information from the Iraqi women who are here for us to also take back to our constituents.
As is the case with many Middle Eastern nations, women are nowhere near equal to men when it comes to basic freedoms and rights that we take for granted every day.
While Kuwait is not a democracy, giving only half the population a voice in their government is not a policy this Congress should support and one that I am glad that Kuwait's leaders are changing.
When given the chance, women have proven they will participate in the electoral process.
Allowing Texas to display the Ten Commandments on State property but disallowing Kentucky courthouses from doing the same is a poor and flawed interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
First, women are more likely to live in poverty during their retirement years than are men.
Social Security is a plan that actually was designed in a much different time, in a different era, and with a different set of American demographics in mind.
I have the highest number of Social Security recipients of any Member of Congress, and it is always good to hear about how women in their districts are affected by any changes, by the need for changes in Social Security.
Under the current pay-as-you-go Social Security system, not one person is actually guaranteed benefits.
If a woman did not work and have the opportunity to save and invest on her own throughout her lifetime, she is often totally reliant on her family and Social Security for her retirement years.
In fact, Social Security is the only source of income nationwide for 29 percent of unmarried elderly women.
The women who pass away before they receive Social Security, for them this is nothing but a tax from which they or their family will never receive a benefit.
On the other end of the spectrum, these women who do live long enough to collect Social Security face the challenge of being disproportionately dependent on the Social Security system for retirement income.
The United Nations is a mess, riddled with scandals. In fact, the U.N. itself is a scandal.
Let us face it, the U.N. has failed. It has failed in its mission to promote world peace.
The United Nations' greatest fear is that average Americans will no longer tolerate these international scandals and demand that America withdraw from the international organization.
The United Nations has come under the control of outlaw nations and self-serving special interest groups.
No issue is more important to this Congress than securing our borders and protecting our homeland, and I guarantee it is very important to our constituents.
I have noticed a marked improvement in FEMA and with the coordination of FEMA and the State agencies.
The newer homes did not sustain as much damage because they were built to better safety codes; they were better designed, higher wind loads for the roof. All of those facets made those homes sustain the storm a whole lot better.
