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Washington, D.C.—U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) officially became the Democratic Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues last night at a passing of the gavel ceremony hosted by Women’s Policy Inc. Representatives Lois Capps (D-CA) and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA), former Co-Chairs of the Women’s Caucus during the 110th Congress, passed the gavel to the new Co-Chairs of the Caucus for the 111th Congress, Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Mary Fallin (R-OK). Representative Schakowsky was Vice-Chair of the Women’s Caucus during the 110th Congress.
“I am honored to be the new Democratic Chair of the bipartisan Women’s Caucus. I look forward to working with the Republican Chair Mary Fallin in the same bipartisan spirit that former Co-Chairs Lois Capps and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers shared,” said Democratic Chair Schakowsky (D-IL). “The Women’s Caucus made significant progress on a number of critical issues during the 110th Congress, including early childhood education, infant mortality, and lung disease and heart disease. I am also looking forward to working with Vice-Chairs Gwen Moore and Kay Granger and the entire Caucus to move forward an aggressive agenda to improve the lives of women here and to end violence against women and sex trafficking across the globe.”
The bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues was founded in 1977 by 15 Congresswomen when there were only 18 women in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today, there are 78 women serving in the House and 16 women serving in the Senate. The Women’s Caucus has been instrumental in shaping the agenda in Congress and it has helped raise awareness of critical health, family and education issues that impact women.
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