Date: 2006-03-08
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. as Ms. HERSETH was talking. I was struck by our diversity. Our commonality is we are all under 40. but literally we represent the East. Midwest and west coast of our country. California. South Dakota. and Florida. We also represent a very different ethnic and cultural diversity. We have a Midwesterner. a nice Jewish girl from the suburbs. and we have a Latina from the West Coast. You could not have more diversity than what is standing in this Chamber this- evening. What is wonderful about that is that is what the Democratic Party is all about. We are the embodiment of the Democratic Party. We are the embodiment of what Democrats represent and stand for. It is not just amazing that we had the opportunity at the age we were when we each got involved. but it is. I think. particularly notable thatwe had that opportunity becauseof the opportunities that Democrats try to provide in terms of diversity. I think if we were attempting to get involved at the point we did in our lives and we were Republicans. it wouldhave been a very different experience and perhaps some very shiny glass ceilings. as you referred to. I was 25 when I started running for the Florida House of Representatives. I would imagine that in South Dakota it is probably that you have to be fifthgeneration South Dakotan before you would think about running for public office. certainly running for Congress. I had only lived in my community for 3 years when I decided to run for the State House of Representatives-. For me. that was no different than anyone else who lives in my community. If you are from south Florida now. you certainly are not from south Florida since birth. The reason I was able to contemplate the possibility of running was because we have had so many of the women we serve with here really provide us their shoulders to stand on because they fought in the 1970s and even some ir the 1960s to make it. possible for women to bust through that glass ceiling. that I was able to even think about running for office when I was 25. just married a year. my husband and I had just bought our first house. We knew we wanted to have kids. I was raised to believe my parents at dinner table conversation. I would not have to choose. A woman could be a good mom. have a solid marriage and be a hardworking professional. and do all of those things well. So the generation before us of women. because they made that possible. because they strove to accomplish that. it made it almost if not a nobrainer. It made it so much more reasonable for someone. for people like us to step up when we were presented with the opportunity. I was able to seize that opportunity when the seat opened up in the State legislature for me because so many women had paved the way before. The experience I had in my race for Congress was so disheartening. I was successful obviously because I am standing Itere. but I actually had to -deal with an opponent who spent the whole election. and this is Womens History Month. we are in 2006. and she spent the whole election saying that I was a bad mother. She spent the entire election saying she was 20 years older than me and had waited until her children were grown before she thought about running. and basically I had some nerve running with young children. I have twin 6yearolds. a boy and a girl. and a 21/2yearold baby girl. I ran for them. I ran so I could show my little girls that there are so many things that are important that we do here. and that it is imperative that our perspective. our generations perspective and the perspective of young moms and young Women are here in this Chamber. We deal with issues that I know we would not deal with if not for young womens presence here. women. period. But the statistic that strikes me is that in history. and I am a freshman. I am the least senior of the three of us. what I learned when I came here. and I know they probably told you this. too. when you came for your orientation. but we have had just under 12.000 people in American history serve in the United States Congress. and of those we literally have had just over 200 women out of 12.000 people.