EAWC 19th Goddess Artemis Awards - Edie Fraser

12 terms in the US Congress. And there's so many firsts as she represents not only the 12 districts but all of us feel she's done more for women and done more financial services. And we're not going to go on and on about the commission caucus or the champion that she did for anti sex legislation and the Debbie Smith act.

No.

She's had 10 bills that were signed at the White House, 10 bills signed before presidents of the United States. She's doggedly fought for federal assistance, which you all know in New York, and for ground zero for the 7th Avenue subway. But just let us really share what some of the media said about her. Time magazine described her estate tenacious, resilient legislature. The Village Voice characterized her as a tiger in the house on every dollar due New York. The New York Times, the New York sun said her entire career has been marked by personal courage. Our town said that she is the one that fights for New Yorkers, a strong economy and equal opportunity. And they said Maloney pushes for a broad agenda in Washington for all. And the New York Times said that the New York's congressional delegation stands out for their moxie because of this New Yorker who is the one that singles out Manhattan, the United States and the world. So I think what Lula wants to tell you. Carolyn Maloney has been a of Lewis and of EAWC for the 19 years since its inception. She's done more for equal rights for women in our opinion than any other women single member of Congress. And she fought and got done the Women's New History Museum. So without anything else than what? You are lucky. I am lucky that Callum Maloney is our friend.

Thank you honorary host.

But you forgot something. You did. She's our Bobolina the Greek Bubulina that.

Now today we said le. Yes. Let's do it. A movie for our bobolina Karen Maloney. Thank you so much. I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you, Edie. Edie is running off to a meeting with Hillary Clinton. So she honors us with her presence and she's going back to speak to probably the next President of the United States. She has a one and two shot. It's a great welcome and a great honor to welcome the Euro American Women's Council to Capitol hill for the 19th annual Global Forum and Goddess Artemis Award ceremony. And before I begin, I want to recognize my very good friend lula Loy Alafianas, EAWC's founder and executive Global President. Lula is someone I have known for many, many years. 24. Lula is a fierce advocate for women around the world, A caring and passionate ally, a trusted advisor and confidant and a dear personal friend. I want to thank her for the great work she does, particularly with the Euro American Women's Council. And EAWC is an important organization. By mentoring and educating the next generation, it is preparing women to succeed in a changing and challenging world. It works to elevate the role of women in business, community and in all areas. And it celebrates our diversity and the accomplishment of all women around the globe. We are here today to recognize the few individuals who share the EWAC mission. They have made important, very important advancements in their fields. These leaders in government, business and culture share a passion to improving the lives of others. They are committed to creating opportunities for women across the globe and they work tirelessly to support their communities. I congratulate these honorees and I thank the EAWC board members and coalition partners who have made it their mission to recognize the excellent contributions of these fine leaders. I thank and admire all of those who have joined with us for this event, for your important work and for the work that lies ahead. It is my privilege to be with you and to welcome you to Washington D.C. so I'm here to say welcome and I'm here also to say that my staff that works with me every day, they're standing in the back. Often I'm in meetings on the floor, voting, doing committee work. But they are always there to help you and I want to recognize them and thank them for all their hard work. Let me tell you, it is such an incredible honor to serve in the United States Congress. It's a body that addresses the important issues worldwide and it's a body where you can make a tremendous difference in improving the world, improving your community and helping people. Just tomorrow I found out on the floor I haven't even had a chance to tell my staff our anti sex trafficking bills will be on the floor of the United States Congress. They will be on the floor next week and we'll pass and I certainly will urge the President of the United States to sign them with another bill signing ceremony. This would be my 11th presidential bill signing for bills and to really push him. It passed through the Senate and they are among the toughest bills that we've ever had to combat this terrible, terrible I call it the 21st century form of slavery. It is ranked by the FBI is the second worst crime preceded only in terms of trafficking in drugs. It used to be trafficking in guns but now sex trafficking is a bigger federal crime and the number of money and activities and people involved in it than even in trafficking illegal guns. And it will for the first time crack down on the demand side. The exploiters, the pimps, the traffickers, the John's. It will go after the Internet, which is advertising and selling these services over the Internet, which has made it even more harmful to people. So I am thrilled that that bill will be passing on the floor of the United States Congress tomorrow or rather next week. And usually when things pass in the United States Congress, the whole world is watching. So many of the initiatives that we put forward then move forward with others. And. And as you know, we have the vote on the Iran deal today to negotiate that. I am hopeful that we can get a strong conclusion that will prohibit the development of any nuclear warheads or nuclear ability and war and that we have enforcement and oversight. So there's a lot happening. I also heard on the floor today that the Republicans are thinking about moving my paid family leave for the birth of a child. America ranks with two countries in the world in not providing that one is Papua New guinea and the other is the United States of America. So I'm hoping this will pass. And in my position on the Joint Economic Committee, we just issued a report that shows the increasing contributions of women to the American family. It used to be the mother was home, the father worked, but now out of necessity, well over 60% of mothers are in the workforce and providing a large amount of money to support the family and the community. But our work, family balance policies have not kept up with the changing really workforce of America. So we are working hard on our own infrastructure. In New York, the two largest construction projects, not in, just in the city of New York, not just in the state of New York, but the two largest construction transportation projects in the entire nation are in the district that I am privileged to represent. And One is the Second Avenue subway which will bring to and move over 350,000 people on day one, which is absolutely huge. And another, which we call the Eastside Connector, which will bring workers and in and out of Queens and Long Island City to Manhattan, is an economic development project also with a lot of commercial spaces that developed in the Grand Central. So I'm working hard in many ways, but one of my projects has also been the world community. And we passed a bill that ranks countries on how they attach and treat sex trafficking and put that part of the American policy. And I also have a bill that would track how countries treat women. Because if you notice if a woman is respected, the amount of terrorism and strife goes down in those countries. So I think it's an important initiative, and we are hoping that we might be able to pass that bill, too. So it's a wonderful privilege for me to be with you today. It's an even greater privilege to even be able to be part of legislation that can improve the lives of people around the world, people you'll never see. But you know that if you hadn't been part of that Democratic coalition working to make it happen, that it possibly would not have happened. So I really want to close with the words of Margaret Mead, who said, never think that whatever you're doing makes a difference. If you ever look at any large movement, any change that happened any place in the world, it's been a small group of committed people that have brought that change. So I believe I'm here today with a group of committed people that are bringing change around the world. And I see many nationalities represented, many leaders from different countries, and I'm thrilled to be here with the EWAC and with its founder, Lula Alafianis. Thank you, Mario. Oh, wonderful.

Get up, get up.

Oh, my goodness. I'm going to be out there racing. Beautiful. One of your babies for 10 years. My phone, my granddaughter, she's like, I need to get with it.