Congresswoman Jacobs Speaks on House Floor in Support of the Equal Rights Amendment, House Vote to Facilitate Ratification
Jacobs: Generations of women and LGBTQ+ Americans lived and died without ever having the equal rights and dignity that they deserve under the law.
Today, the House passed H.J. Res. 17, legislation to facilitate the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Congresswoman Sara Jacobs voted in favor of the bill and spoke on the House floor in support of the Equal Rights Amendment and H.J. Res. 17.
Thirty-eight states have now ratified the ERA, the number required by the U.S. Constitution. H.J. Res. 17 removes the arbitrary deadline for states’ ratification first established by Congress in 1972. The Constitution does not set time limits on amendments and previous amendments have also taken decades to be ratified.
Later today, Congresswoman Jacobs will preside over consideration of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act as Speaker Pro Tempore.
To view Congresswoman Jacobs’ remarks click here: Twitter, YouTube.
The remarks from Congresswoman Jacobs are as follows:
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.
From the beginning, gender equality was left out of the Constitution.
Generations of women and LGBTQ+ Americans lived and died without ever having the equal rights and dignity that they deserve under the law.
We know the ERA is necessary by the words of its opponents, including the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who argued that the Constitution does not prohibit discrimination based on sex.
We can change that.
Thirty-eight states have ratified the ERA.
The only hurdle that remains is the arbitrary deadline set by Congress, a deadline that passed before I was born, but a deadline that never stopped the pursuit of justice.
With every vote we take in this Chamber, we have the chance to correct past mistakes and repeal past wrongs. That is what we will do again today.
Our march for equal rights is not done, it will not stop, and it does not expire.
I yield back.