Mary Johnson Photo
“Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights,” said Congressional Rep Rosa DeLauro, pictured, (D‑3rd District) Tuesday at Kick-Off Rally in New Haven for Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington. Eighty buses are leaving from Connecticut on Saturday and a total of 1,100 buses will be heading to Washington.
Sally E. Bahner Photo
Representatives from the Women’s March on Washington, Connecticut Chapter.
To date, more than 600 “sister marches” are also planned across the country and around the world.
DeLauro said she will attend the inauguration, along with Connecticut U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. Close to 50 members of Congress have said they do not plan on attending.
Sally E. Bahner Photo
Prior to the event, the Eagle asked her how she plans on standing up to Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. “I stand up to Paul Ryan every day,” she said. “I’m doing what I’ve done before, whether it’s the budget, the Affordable Care Act… “
“Will your voice be louder?” the Eagle asked.
“Well, my voice is pretty loud,” she said amid laughter. “A lot of people would say I have a pretty loud voice! I’m best regarded as a loud mouth!”
What’s the best way for ordinary citizens to express their concerns, she was asked.
“They need to speak up,” DeLauro said, “They need to have a loud voice. There were almost a 1,000 people in Hartford. They need to have those rallies all over. And you don’t need members of Congress to be there. People can gather and express their views and get the press there. You should see what they’re planning on doing with Planned Parenthood… watch what they’re going to try to do with kids’ healthcare… so many issues and we need to be very vocal and not hold back.”
DeLauro said Trump can be held accountable. “The people can hold him accountable. He said so many things that he won’t be able to deliver on… he will betray working people. He’s going to betray middle class America. He is going to betray all those people in Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania… they’re not going to get their jobs back. And so people then will react. They will react in 2018 in the mid-term elections.”
Mary Johnson Photo
DeLauro’s “Sisters in Arms”
DeLauro introduced her “sisters in arms” Kathy Holt, Center for Medicare Advocacy; Ellen Schmetiz, Connecticut Voices for Children; Judy Tabar, Planned Parenthood of Southern Connecticut; Jillian Gilcrest, Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and Susan Eastwood, Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.
DeLauro described the march as a “large scare demonstration of our shared values… we’re in a fight for our lives.
“This march should symbolize the first day of an organized and prolonged battle for America’s agenda, one that includes equal pay for equal work, affordable college, paid sick leave paid family and medical leave, access to affordable women’s health care, and protection from violence against women,” she said.
She recalled her mother, Luisa DeLauro, active for many years in New Haven politics, as a strong role model and still is her hero at age 103, who said, “Come on, girls, make ourselves heard.”
DeLauro said, “We are making ourselves heard… We are opening the way for all to get heard.”
She said, “The incoming administration needs to know how determined Americans are in taking our country back from the government of oligarchs and billionaires,” adding that their agenda is far removed from the priorities of working people and middle class families.
“The Republicans are robbing the middle class of health care to give multi-million dollar tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires and we are hear to say, Not on our watch!” she said. “We have to make it clear that we’re not going back.”
DeLauro then gave the floor to the representative of the women’s groups, who shared how proposed legislation and the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act would negatively impact their work with women, children, and families.
Here is more about the march from the New Haven Independent.
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Where are the women of color? Why is CT being represented by 4 white women? No offense intended to DeLauro or the 4 women making their way to Washington but CT is a very diverse state and it seems as though a few voices/accents are missing from this action.