Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) on Wednesday tore into the stereotype that women are too emotional after Senate Republicans blocked debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that would help close the gender pay gap.
“Now I’ll tell you what I’m tired of hearing, that somehow or another we’re too emotional when we talk. You know, when we raise an issue, we’re too emotional. Well, I am emotional,” said Mikulski, who sponsored the legislation.
“I am so emotional about this. I am telling you, if we don’t pass this bill, I’m so emotional, I’m going to press on. It brings tears to my eyes to know how women every single day are working so hard and are getting paid less. It makes me emotional to hear that. Then when I hear all of these phony reasons — some are mean and some are meaningless — I do get emotional. I get angry, I get outraged, I get volcanic.”
On Sunday, former CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden said that Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) discussion of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into CIA torture was “emotional,” not necessarily “objective.”
On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blasted Hayden’s remarks.
And for this man to say that because she criticizes tactics led by General Hayden, that was torture, she’s being too emotional. I don’t think so. Does this sound like a person or a party that respects women?” he said in a floor speech.
And on Tuesday, Feinstein called Hayden’s reaction “an old male fallback position.”
Watch a clip of Mikulski’s speech via NBC:
