Question of Personal Privilege

Floor Speech

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Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, we can disagree on issues that we face as a Nation, and we can disagree on the policies and the prescriptions that we develop to fix them. In fact, this very body was built on the belief that productive tension and spirited debate would force legislators to do the hard work of creating laws that will benefit all Americans.

For centuries, the House of Representatives has rejected personal attacks like those hurled at Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez on the steps of the U.S. Capitol earlier this week. This institution has maintained rules that hold us, as Members of Congress, to a higher standard because that is what the hardworking people we represent expect from us, and that is what we owe to them.

Madam Speaker, when we learn of the kind of personal attack levied against Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, we cannot sit idly by. We cannot let it go unaddressed, as many of us women have long been expected to do. We must call it out. We must demand accountability, like we are here today. That is what we owe to all women, especially to our daughters.

We have to send the message loud and clear because, apparently, people still aren't getting it. The days of bullying women you disagree with, whether it is in a boardroom, in a newsroom, or a military base, or in these hallowed Halls of Congress, are over.

If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't believe me, watch as we continue winning in districts across America. Watch as women band together to say enough to being publicly humiliated simply because they disagree. And watch as we make up for lost time by course- correcting the behaviors that women like us have had to endure so that our daughters, and yours, will never have to.

I want to thank my fearless colleague for the grace, the courage, and the intellect that she brings to this Chamber every day.

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