BY ROXY SZAL | On Tuesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) introduced a joint resolution to affirm the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), removing the arbitrary deadline for ratification and recognizing the amendment as part of the Constitution.
The legislation is co-sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and in the House by Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Cori Bush (D-Ma.) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Ill.).
Article V of the U.S. Constitution sets out two requirements for amendments, and the ERA has met both: approval by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress (the U.S. House approved the ERA in 1971 with a bipartisan vote of 354–24, and the Senate approved the ERA the following year by another bipartisan vote of 84-8) and ratification by three-fourths of the states (Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA in January 2020). But despite achieving all of the requirements, recognition of the ERA an amendment to the Constitution was blocked by the Trump administration.
“Our resolution will help address centuries of gender disparities in America by removing the unnecessary barriers that have prevented us from enshrining the dignity, humanity and equality of all people into our Constitution,” said Pressley. “We as women have done our job, the states have done their job, and now it’s time for Congress to do its job and pass this resolution.”
“There should be no time limit on equality,” said Cardin.
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