For 108 minutes on Tuesday night, I sat in the House Chambers listening to President Donald Trump rattle off tales of a \u201cbooming\u201d economy and a country that \u201chas never been better.\u201d I know I speak for my family \u2013 and a majority of my constituents \u2013 that we are not better off under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
But as he touted many so-called \u201cpolicy wins\u201d for women, it has made me reflect on just how much he has actually harmed women specifically with his short-sighted, misguided policies \u2013 and how important it is that we continue to elevate women into the leadership positions.<\/p>\n
For example, Trump highlighted access to IVF drugs \u2014 but ignored the Medicaid cuts in his \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d even though Medicaid covers 40% of births in this country.<\/p>\n
He bragged about lifting millions off food stamps, while ignoring SNAP changes that disproportionately hurt single moms and caregivers already struggling under this volatile economy.<\/p>\n
This hypocrisy was not lost on me. Nor was the fact that much of our president\u2019s career has been spent mocking, belittling, and degrading women.<\/p>\n
Our country is 249 years old. We\u2019ve had 101 in-person State of the Union addresses, and 47 presidents have led the United States.<\/p>\n
Yet, it wasn\u2019t that long ago that women couldn\u2019t vote, let alone hold public office or sit inside that chamber as lawmakers. There are so many trailblazers who have come before me, paving the way and cracking glass ceilings that once felt unbreakable. Just a few decades ago, Colorado had never sent a woman to Congress. Pat Schroeder changed that. One of just 15 women at Harvard Law School, she was elected at 32, when only 14 women served in the House. She brought her experience as a mom of two to help champion the Family and Medical Leave Act \u2014 reshaping how we support working families.<\/p>\n
She passed that torch to Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who continues that legacy today as a leader of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, fighting to repeal the Hyde Amendment and protect access to abortion care for low-income women. Colorado is lucky to have DeGette at the helm of this fight.<\/p>\n
The trailblazers before us have moved this country forward, but, as we begin Women\u2019s History Month on Sunday, I can\u2019t help but think of how far we have to go. And there has rarely been a moment more pivotal than right now. Many of Trump\u2019s most extreme policies disproportionately harm women \u2014 from cuts to health care and food assistance to attacks on reproductive freedom.<\/p>\n
And how do we address what feels like insurmountable challenges? By continuing to elevate women \u2014 not just as figure-heads \u2014 but as leaders.<\/p>\n
Women don\u2019t want \u201cbaby bonuses.\u201d They\u2019re asking for affordable health care, reliable child care, and a safe place to live and raise their families. That means we have to build upon the progress that Sen. Michael Bennet started by making the child tax credit permanent. We have to guarantee paid family leave for everyone, so women have ample opportunity to get ahead.<\/p>\n
Just one year ago, I became only the 14th Member of Congress to give birth while serving. The sexism I faced was palpable \u2014 from being denied the ability to vote remotely to being told I belonged at home, taking care of my baby, instead of in Congress.<\/p>\n
But I also experienced many moments of hope. Moms would stop me with tears in their eyes, saying they saw themselves in me. It showed me that, above all, representation matters.<\/p>\n
If we want to solve the biggest challenges facing families \u2014 affordability, health care, child care \u2014 we have to center the people living them. That means making our institutions more accessible and ensuring women have a real seat at the table.<\/p>\n
Across the country, women still haven\u2019t held some of the highest offices in our land. And when leadership doesn\u2019t reflect the lived experiences of the people it serves, it\u2019s no wonder so many feel like nothing ever changes.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Brittany\u00a0Pettersen\u00a0represents Congressional District 7, which includes part or all of these Colorado counties:\u00a0Jefferson, Broomfield, Lake, Chaffee, Park, Teller, Custer, and Fremont.<\/em><\/p>\n Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online<\/a> or check out our guidelines<\/a> for how to submit by email or mail.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For 108 minutes on Tuesday night, I sat in the House Chambers listening to President…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1077,"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions\/1077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attorneycalendar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}