Women for Tom Allen
The Tom Allen for Senate campaign today launched "Women for Tom Allen", a large and growing group of women who have pledged support for Congressman Allen this November.
"Many strong women including my mother, my wife Diana, and my two daughters Gwen and Kate have greatly influenced my life, helped shape my values and inspired my commitment to women's rights," Allen said on Tuesday. "In the House, I have fought to ensure women's reproductive freedom, to expand access to quality affordable health care for women and children and to assure equal pay in the workplace. It's time to take care of women and children here at home, and in the Senate, I will be a tireless champion on their behalf. On the eighty-eighth anniversary of women's suffrage, I am excited and grateful for the support of women across the state."
As a member of the House Budget Committee and the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Allen has worked to expand and increase funding for health care, nutrition and education programs vitally important to women and children. In March, he introduced the Women's Retirement Security Act, legislation to provide women with improved retirement savings options, create incentives for employers to provide pensions and eliminate the inequity in divorce settlements that undermines women's retirement security. He has also introduced the Middle Class Opportunity Act to help working families with the costs of a new baby, their children's college education and relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax. Earlier this month, Working Mother magazine named
Congressman Allen as one of only 13 House members and 10 Senators on its first "Best of Congress" list.
Women from across the state have expressed their support for Allen by signing up online for the group, which has had events in Portland, Biddeford, Bar Harbor and Bangor and plans to have two more in Augusta and Auburn.
Maine Senate President Beth Edmonds and Maine Senate Majority Leader Libby Mitchell, strong advocates for women and families in Maine's legislature, are co-chairs of Women for Tom Allen.
"Tom Allen's record in Washington demonstrates his commitment to issues that affect Maine women and families," Senator Edmonds said. "Tom introduced the Middle Class Opportunity Act to provide tax credits for higher education, families with children, and families with ailing or elderly family members."
"The next President will nominate hundreds of federal judges and will likely select Supreme Court justices who will either build upon the progress women have made since suffrage or reverse course on issues of fundamental freedom including Roe v. Wade," Senator Mitchell said. "Susan Collins voted for all but two George W. Bush's judicial nominees, including Justice Samuel Alito. Maine and America's women need Tom Allen in the Senate to support judicial candidates who will protect their hard fought freedoms."