Time. I have worked with a lot of great chairpersons of the democratic hardy. Know, Democratic Party. I have campaigned for thousands of candidates over the years. I have never seen anyone work as hard or as tirelessly as debbie has. If we want anyone to do the 60 the bestr 160 seconds person is debbie. It is great to work with her, the problem is, and being close to her she does not even ask. She tells me what to do. She is like my little sister. You know i do whatever she tells me. I cant begin without talking about just four and a second, scented cynthia and cara. I cant see the back of the room. It looks like a lot of people are here. It, it was ated lot smaller room. And the tables were a lot smaller. And you set out to make sure that that table got bigger, and made sure that at that table there as many people as there were men. Tried to make sure that things change. You see a lot of old friends out there, and new friends. And we have been through awful lot together. And wea lot of fights have one most of them. Not always the first time we engage them, but it is because of how you have changed the party, how you have changed the , we dontause we have just have activists in the party, we have World Leaders and national leaders, women who are so engaged in using their influence in ways that are powerful. To change significant circumstances that need to be changed in the country. One of those big fights were there werent as many at the table, but they were in the fight was 20 years ago, in the violence against women act. Was passed into law 20 years ago this month. And you know, in legislative about anniversaries are settling difficulties we have overcome and a problem we have begun to solve but they are also reminders of how much more needs to be done to finish the job we set out to do, almost in every major legislative initiative. And the way i look at it, the second half of this fight is much less daunting than the first half, no less important but no less daunting. A lot of you do a member because you are not at my side you are at my side, when we started this fight 26 years ago and succeeded in getting this past 20 years ago. When i suggested we had federally funded womens shelter, the attack, not from just a little minority but the attack from the intelligentsia of the country, was that biden wants to set up, what was the exact phrase back then, he wanted to set up indoctrination centers. I am serious. Ladies and gentlemen, when we started the fight 20 years ago, i was accused of an effort to break up the american family. Because violence against women was a domestic issue. In the literal sense, it was a family issue. That is what we were told. Cynthia hogan, my chief of staff, and the nfl hasnt seen anything yet. I am glad that they hired her. I am glad that they hired her. That is one bright, strong person and they have no idea what they just bought onto. And thank god that they are smart enough to hire her. Who was beinggan, told by some of our allies, i will not mention the allies, they came along and said that this is just a biden fad. This is just a fad. It was not a fad, it was a social failure in america, that we had refused to deal with although others had tried. Repeatedly. For a very long time. And you all knew it. That it was a social failure. Convinced at the outset, as i am now that we forced the American People to take a close look at the failures of violence. Violence,f domestic to look into the eyes of the men of the women who were abused andvery social strata income level, doctors as brutal as plumbers, Football Players as brutal as professors. No distinction. Eye,ey had to look in the this isther would say, the most terrible sin one could commit his abuse of power and the cardinal sin among all those has to raise your hand to a woman or someone physically weaker than you. I was convinced from others who have been in the fight that if we forced america to look at in the eye, they would stand up because it is always easier to attend it is not fair because it is a difficult issue. Because of some brave and courageous woman ive spoken about, because of their willingness to step forward before the cameras in the judiciary hearings, we began to put a face on this heinous crime worried that the public might think that these were aberrations, these richest celebrity cases, these were cases that were anomalies and they were horrible but they were anomalies. The women on my staff had an incredible idea, they said we should write a report that was entitled, violence against women , a week in the life of america. And they surveyed almost every law on the books in all 50 states. And they went and looked at the Crime Statistics for just one week. They took one week, 21 thousand crimes against women in one week. Ordinary women, extraordinary women, poor women, wealthy women. A daughter was fearful that she would Say Something and her theer would take her into shed and put her head in a vice. I remember back then saying something that i could not prove but i was convinced of and being i had criticized because some knowledge of posttraumatic stress from the vietnam war, people that were coming home and suffering from it. Womanot understand why a who twice a week when her husband was home, smashes her head against the wall. Chokes her. Lived in that circumstance for years, why. They would not have longterm lifetime impacts on her health. Now, the cdc has come out with a study showing that as the reason for longterm chronic disease is a consequence of a wounded and physically healed years and years earlier. When that report came out, things began to change. It broke the dam of congressional resistance. We passed the violence against women with one vote to a spare to avoid a filibuster. Weeach and every time reauthorized it, because of you, and im not being selected this, each and every time weve had to reauthorize it, the fact we had to fight for it blows my mind. Time, we made improvements. Protecting immigrant women, protecting the lgbt community. So much more and we knew we should have done in the beginning but we should not get done. The reason i raise all of this is beyond talking about the anniversary. Is to remind us that we made progress, 64 or send drop in Domestic Violence between 932010. We saved the country 12 billion in the last six years alone reducing medical costs and social services, more than 3. 4 million women in some men have used the Domestic Violence hotline. Are aboutiversaries setting our sights on finishing the job, let me tell you what success looks like because i buffett asked by the press. What constitutes success . Therell always be some man raising his hand to someone weaker physically, whether it is a woman or a child or another man. The successful come. When the attitude changes and what did i do. And women asked, what did i do . Was it what i was wearing . It the womans fault. Other than in selfdefense. Never. Never. Geta lot of you have got to your head in that issue as well. That will mark, the second piece that is needed is when every single man in america understands that he never has a right to raise his hand. That it just is not a right. It is always wrong. , weade a lot of progress began to change attitudes in america. We will not have succeeded until those two cultural norms. I have a great woman who runs the operation. We made all this progress and violence against women, there is one area where we have made no progress. Betweenfor young women 1525, one in 10 of them are still subject to abuse him a physical abuse, during that abuse, physical abuse, during period. The president gave me the and contact go out advertising agencies, young activists to talk about how we can reach a Different Group of. Oung americans, young man it made me realize that all of the if this is on what men are doing wrong, we have to reach out and engage young men because the vast majority are decent, they are overwhelming majority. And get them engaged. And we had to communicate an important message. The president and i will be launching a new Public Awareness campaign that group out of these conversations. It is called, it is on us. And i believe it will help, reach out to College Campuses in america and drive home the message that everyone of us has a role, a role of protecting young people from Sexual Assault. This is not a womans issue, this is not a womans issue. This is an american issue. Its time for men to start to stand up. Look, folks. Theres been another breakthrough that ive observed. , i ask what is the one thing you could do to make the College Campuses safer. They said, engage young man. You will see when we roll this out in an hour and a half or so, our attempts to begin a full scale effort that we will be unrelenting on over the next several years. That it isclear cowardly not to step up. That there is an absolute obligation that you have. A moral obligation. A moral obligation to step up and Say Something. Think god we no longer talk about womens issues when we come and speak to womens groups. I used to be and my wife jill was so offended, now i want to talk about womens issues. The things that are going to affect women. Where in the hell do they live . Observation is everything is a womens issue. No, i am serious. I am serious. Room willou in this represent every walk of life, every economic strata, you are not just activists, you are ceo possibly to corporations. Fortune 500 came out with their list of the 50 most powerful women in america, 24 are ceos. You are professors of great and small universities. You represent every economic power center. Collectivent the leadership of this country, that is what cynthia and carole bronte get a that was different than anything else. And now, your voice cannot be denied. Your voice cannot be didnt turned off. You of not only raised money for the Democratic Party, you have raised the bar. You have raised your sons to know better. Jill, you have helped set a higher standard. Across the board. It matters. There is one important issue that i want to briefly mention to you. It is the economy and the plight of the middle class. Let me start by reminding everybody in the press, you all know it, that women make up 47 of the workforce. In 1970, you made up 38 of the workforce and you should, if we have greater labor force participation, you should be making up another two and a half percent of the workforce. More than 40 of the mothers are the sole source of income for their families. That reflects the fact that there are more single mothers, six t 5 of whom work. The fact is that 24 of married women in america earn more than their husbands. 7 in 1970 when i was getting started. So, what has happened . What has happened in the middle class is maybe the most important womens issue. That exist out there. We used to have a basic bargain in america, and that was when you contributed to the productivity of the enterprise you were involved in, you got to share in the rewards of that productivity. We used to have consensus around that argan. Democrats and republicans. For the past 40 years, longer. But that bargain has been broken. The New York Times sunday ,eadline in march of this year the last week in march, the american milk labs no longer the worlds richest. And nbc poll august of this year, 76 of americans ages 18 and older were not confident that their childrens generation would be better off than their own. 51 of samples of middleclass families. The middleclass is not a number. I had a lot of great economist to work for me. It is being able to send your. Id to a part it is being able to if they do well, [applause] being ables is about to take care of your geriatric parents and do enough that your children will be able to take care of you. That is the middle class in america, and it is in trouble right now. That was the American Dream. That was what built this country. That is what we are determined to restore. Think about this. Why have we been the most , the mosttable politically stable, and economically stable country in the last 100 years . Against other great democracies. It is because we have a vibrant middle class. Shock waves run through, as they have all the way back to the depression and other times, people did not take extreme alternatives, it does they still believed that the American Dream existed. Because they still believed that the American Dream existed. They believed that if they helped build it they would be rewarded with the proceeds. Gentlemen, recent studies, not by some liberal , a recent article in the imfomist, study, the disparity slows Economic Growth. President d reagan was , 1 of the people earned 10 of the income in america. Now they earn 20 of the income in america. 2012, the economy grew 29 overall. Productivity was up 36 . You know how much of a raise the middle class got . . 14. . 14. Something is wrong, folks. And we damn better figure it out. We need to bring the middle class back into the bargain, because the middle class is the backbone of the economy. You cannot have a conversation growth if women are not fully participating in the economy. [applause] these are not applause lines, this is just a fact. Womens for dissipation in the workforce was responsible for nearly 20 of the growth in the gdp of america 80s. He 70s to the 20 of the growth of america. The american economy. Over the past 20 years, that growth has slowed. In 1990, the United States ranks seventh among the countries of the world in womens labor force participation. In 2012, we ranked 16th. But we can change that. By helping women balance work and family. Economic studies indicate that giving women the right for example, three months of paid participation leave paid maternity leave, that could increase the gdp. Other studies have found that lowering the cost of childcare increases womens workforce protection. Increasing the minimum wage alone would disproportionately help women, many of whom are in lowwage roles such as personal care, health care support, tipped occupations. Name in the United States of america should it be that you work 40 hours a week and still end up 7,000 below the Poverty Level in america . Below the Poverty Level. But it is not just about equity, it is about Economic Growth. For everyone. And there is more money that waitresses pocket, she goes out and spends it on necessities. That increases employment, boosts the gdp. It is basic economics 101. Guaranteeing equal pay for women is so long overdue and would have such a profound effect on families. [applause] folks, the paycheck fairness act is not just about being fair. It is about u. S. Economic growth and dynamism. For americas sake, it is pretty simple. We have to deal the middle class back in. There is only one way we can do that, though, and i will end with this. We have to do well in 2014. It is that basic. [applause] i mean, we really do. Because this is not your fathers Republican Party. [laughter] i am not making a moral judgment, i am really not. But this is a different breed of cat. [laughter] seriously. Think about all of the issues we are now fighting about. Access to the polls. 81 bills introduced to state legislators to reduce access. It was republicans who expanded access to the polls. It was republicans in the Judiciary Committee that didnt motor voter. Guys like mac mathias and packwood and so many others. It was not democrats alone. Republicans were the sponsors of raises of the minimum wage. I could go on and on. This is noting, your fathers Republican Party or your mothers Republican Party. But we have made great progress. And we have made it because of you. But there is so much more to come. Pelosi wants to be speaker of the house. [applause] if Mary Landrieu continues to be chairman of the energy committee. If kay hagan and others, i have been in their districts, they still let me come in. [laughter] [applause] they are going to win because of you. If we do not keep these great women in the senate, if we do not make gains in the house, we will lose the chance to make the next step. Because america is about to explode economically. We are better positioned than any country in the world to be the leading economy in the 21st century. By a long shot. So, folks, to paraphrase samuel clemens, the reports of the demise of the Democratic Party are premature. They are very premature. [laughter] [applause] and there are women like you that have stepped up to run for office all over the country. I was just on indexes for wendy davis, she is going to win that race. [applause] do not give up on that race. Do not. If you have annexed the dollar, given to wendy davis. We are going to win that race. And by the way, i will be heading upper wisconsin for someone who is going to give scott walker the shock of his life, mary. Watcher. Watch her. What a classy candidate. [applause] there are women in this room that no, that are ready to help and when, to make winners like jeannie do what has to be done. They did over 10 million kay had more than 10 million in negative ads rising spent against her, and she is still ahead. They are all ahead. But now we are down to the short strokes. When i was a candidate, i could to you the exact number of days, but there are not many. So we are always coming to you, always asking for help. We do it all the time. Like you, we were raised not to ask for ourselves, what you come back and you come back to the same people all the time for help. Know anyway. [laughter] i want, as they say in the senate, a point of personal privilege. A lot of you have helped me in my campaigns. I know it is not always easy to write the check him out but the truth is, the harder thing for you to do is to put your name on the line for me or whoever you were writing the check for. That is the thing i want to personally thank you for, because you vouch for us when you do that. And you are vouching for all these women and others to make sure that we do not slide back a decade by losing the senate and losing ground in the house. The president is a wonderful guy. He is my great personal friend. But right now we feel like horati