Each month, a member of the Younger Women's Task Force interviews a Democratic woman member of Congress to ask questions about issues that are impacting young women across the country. This month, Alison Stein, Founder and Board Chair of the Younger Women's Task Force interviewed Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut.

Alison Stein, center, listens at a YWTF meeting on Capitol Hill

Born in New Haven, CT, Alison Stein developed the concept of YWTF during her years as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was actively involved in women’s issues on her campus, in the communities of Philadelphia, and internationally.

At the age of 22, Alison officially founded YWTF through organizing a “Meet-Up” that brought 150 younger women from 42 different states to Washington, DC to define and articulate the issues that mattered most to them. Today, with thousands of members in eleven chapters across the country, YWTF is the first national grassroots movement of younger women in their 20s and 30s.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro has worked a lifetime for the people of Connecticut. She was first elected to Congress from Connecticut's Third District in 1990, and is currently serving her eighth term. DeLauro has helped Connecticut families get ahead by making economic improvement a top priority. The first bill she introduced as a Member of Congress was a middle-class tax cut. More recently, she has fought for targeted tax cuts such as a $500 per child tax credit, a tax cut for children's health care, and education tax cuts to give every Connecticut family the chance to send their kids to college. DeLauro supports a much needed increase in the minimum wage, and has written legislation that would guarantee men and women equal pay for equal work.

Congresswoman DeLauro speaks at a DWWG event.

ALISON STEIN: When I launched the Younger Women’s Task Force, I traveled across the country to talk with women in their 20s and 30s about the issues that mattered most to them. One of my most disturbing findings was that younger women internalize the issue of equal pay. They believe that if they could only negotiate better or ask for a raise, then they would be paid equally. With April being the month you introduce the Paycheck Fairness Act, what work are you doing to engage younger women in the issue of equal pay, and specifically to address the issue of their disbelief in a true "pay gap"?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: Closing the wage gap is a matter of fairness, opportunity and values. That is why I reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act with Senator Clinton – legislation which would put teeth in equal pay laws once and for all. But to do that, we will need to return to where women have always been most successful – the grassroots.

On Equal Pay Day 2006, I joined a new nationwide grassroots movement designed to close the wage gap. The group announced the formation of "WAGE Clubs" (Women Are Getting Even) – groups of women that meet periodically in their area to discuss and strategize how to improve the wages of women. While the group provides an opportunity for members to share their frustrations at work, the primary purpose of the WAGE Club is to support each other in taking steps to improve their work situation and to end workplace discrimination against women. The effort is led by Evelyn F. Murphy author of Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It. Dr. Murphy is a Ph.D. economist, former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts

WAGE Clubs bring a capacity to energize women, by helping them support one another on a case-by-case basis when it comes to identifying discrimination and fighting for equal pay. We must help women think about this issue not only today on Equal Pay Day but throughout the year – and WAGE Clubs will help us do just that.

ALISON STEIN: As you know, the Younger Women's Task Force works with younger women to define the issues that affect their lives as younger women. What do you think is the number one issue in Congress that will impact younger women’s lives in the years to come?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: Over the course of her lifetime, a female high school graduate will make $700,000 less than the young man she graduates with. A college graduate loses $1.2 million, while a woman who graduates with a degree in business, medicine, or law – she loses $2 million.

As the National Committee on Pay Equity tells us, the wage gap today finds that women earn about 77 cents for every dollar men earn. African-American women earn 68 cents on the dollar, with Latina women earning 57 cents. Given that the overall gap was 76 cents last year, some might think we have made some progress. Even there, though, that small increase for women can be attributed not to gains – but to men’s incomes falling last year.

Closing the wage gap is an issue that will impact younger women’s lives in the years to come, which is why Congress must take action on the Paycheck Fairness Act.

ALISON STEIN: Many of our members recently graduated from college and have a pile of student’s loans that they make payments on every month. Can anything be done to help college graduates leave school without being thousands of dollars in debt?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: Each of us recognizes that access to a quality education is inseparable from our economic prosperity, national security, and civic health. We share a belief that a quality college degree is the cornerstone of the American dream, opening the door to job opportunity and professional fulfillment, and American competitiveness.

In the past, I introduced the College Loan Assistance Act, which would have allowed students already locked in at a high interest rate to take advantage of what were historic low interest rates and consolidate their debt. But with interest rates on the rise, that approach is no longer as attractive.

I am now working on legislation with my colleagues in the Congress that would replace the 5 existing education tax incentives with a $3,000-a-year credit to every student for 4 years of college and 2 years of graduate school. That is enough to pay for almost all of the average annual tuition at public colleges and universities and is more than double the value of the current Hope Scholarship.

The College Tax Credit would also remove the requirement that Pell Grants and other need-based government aid be subtracted from a family’s eligible college expenses, allowing those families to qualify for the total amount of the College Tax Credit.

I am also working in the Congress to provide a tax deduction so middle class families could deduct part of the costs of education. With American competitiveness at stake, these are the kinds of proposals we need to be considering – and urgently.

Congress cut student financial aid by an unprecedented $12 billion in the 2006 Budget Reconciliation Act earlier this year, putting college further out of reach for many families. For that reason, I support efforts in Congress that cuts student loan interest rates in half and work to restore this ‘raid on student aid.’

ALISON STEIN: In what ways do you think your experience as a female member of Congress is different from that of your male counterparts?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: We know that no one will fight for the issues that women care about – fair pay, research for breast and gynecological cancers – better than women themselves. We have made significant gains in increasing the numbers of female legislators in Congress – 14 women are currently in the U.S. Senate and 70 are currently in the U.S. House. But when you consider the statistics, women hold only 15% of the 535 seats in the 109th U.S. Congress — 14% of the 100 seats in the Senate and 15%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Our male colleagues still far outnumber us.

Until women even out the statistics, the issues that are most important to us will always be at a disadvantage. It is for that reason that I strongly support women running for office. Our gains in the last decade have been strong, but we have more work ahead of us.

ALISON STEIN: I was born in New Haven, CT and my parents still live there. Every time I go home, I am shocked by how much the city is changing, and by the plethora of restaurants, coffee shops, books stores and upscale movie theatres. What measures are being taken to ensure that the downtown development does not have a negative impact on the local communities?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: Downtown revitalization is a great thing and all communities share in it. But that is not the same as revitalized neighborhoods and on this issue, there are too many disparities. I continue to work with the city and state to create affordable housing and to make sure that institutions like Yale and others create broad benefits in the neighborhoods in which they are located.

ALISON STEIN: Do you believe that we have a chance at passing equal pay legislation?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: I think it is high time that we make women aware of who is on their side when it comes to equal pay. Right now, we have nearly a hundred cosponsors of the Paycheck Fairness Act – and not one is a Republican. In all the years we have introduced this bill, it has never once received a hearing in committee. That is because this majority’s leadership knows that no Member would dare vote against equal pay on the House floor – and I do not blame them. I would not want to tell nearly 150 million women in the United States that the law should not guarantee them an equal paycheck either.

ALISON STEIN: What made you so passionate about the issue of equal pay? Was it a personal experience of discrimination?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: This is an issue that every woman should be passionate about. As I mentioned earlier, closing the wage gap is a matter of fairness, opportunity and values. In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of lawsuits against big corporations who discriminate against women and do not pay them fairly – women banding together to say "enough." Their efforts need to be echoed in Congress and with laws that level the playing field for women.

ALISON STEIN: Do you believe that as a woman, you have unique assets that serve you well in the halls of Congress? If so, what are they?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: I have a mother who is 92 years old and has unbelievable energy and bravado. That helps.

ALISON STEIN: One of the missions of the Younger Women’s Task Force is for younger women to support younger women in all of their endeavors, and to make sure that never again, are women other women’s enemies. (Competitiveness among women is an issue that many argue plagued the organized women’s movement of the past.) Do you feel camaraderie among the other female members of Congress?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: There is a definite camaraderie here on Capitol Hill and this same spirit should lead women’s groups as well. If women do not support other women, who will?

ALISON STEIN: If you were not a public servant, what would you be in another life?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: A tap dancer.

ALISON STEIN: Is there another career you hope to pursue after you leave the halls of Congress?

CONGRESSWOMAN DELAURO: I have a lot of work to do in Congress.

Learn more about Congresswoman DeLauro

Learn more about the Younger Women's Task Force