Allyson + Earl = AWESOME
By Jeanne Duncan on 04/02/2010 @ 10:37 AM
This week my congressman, Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), held his annual women's lunch here in Portland. This year's special guest was Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania (PA-13), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and former health care exec who was deeply involved in the passage of health care reform.
Of course Earl (author of the seemingly innocuous amendment to provide end-of-life care, which the right wing dubbed "death panels" -- and which made it into the final bill) joined Allyson in talking about the health care debate and the incredible leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Then Allyson told the crowd her personal story, which I remembered from writing her profile for EMILY's List: the mother who escaped Nazi Germany to immigrate to the U.S. … the 13 years Allyson spent as director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia … the fact that when she won a state Senate seat in 1990, there were only two women out of 50 in the Pennsylvania Senate (Allyson's class doubled that to four) …how when she won her seat in Congress in 2006, she was the only woman in a delegation of 19 … how today she's still the delegation's only pro-choice woman.
Allyson recapped this history and repeated some numbers that we at EMILY's List have committed to heart: only 56 Democratic women in the House … only 17 women in the Senate … only three female House committee chairs … and only 17 percent of the Congress is women.
We've come so far, and have so far to go.
And she talked about raising her kids, and how important it is for women to nurture families, but that we need to do more. "It's tough to run, it's tough to win, and it's tough to serve," she said, "but it matters that we are there." At that point, she gave a little shout out to EMILY's List and talked about how it feels to her to know that women across the country are "cheering me on."
Finally, Allyson appealed to the audience to "use your email lists, talk to your friends and family, and make sure people understand why it's important to you to get involved." I felt like she was reading my mind!
And I left feeling proud of women like Allyson who are willing to make sacrifices to run and win … and of men like Earl who recognize how important it is to have us at the table … and of EMILY's List, which gives me -- and you -- the chance to make a difference.
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