WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill led by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Ben Cardin (D-MD), to honor women’s rights pioneer Louisa Swain. Serving as Senator Lummis’ first stand-alone piece of legislation to pass both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, this bill designates the federal building located at 308 West 21st Street in Cheyenne, Wyoming as the “Louisa Swain Federal Office Building.”
“As the first woman to serve Wyoming in the U.S. Senate, I am honored that my first bill to pass both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives is one that commemorates a true pioneer from my home state of Wyoming,” Senator Lummis said about her bill. “I cannot think of a better name for a federal building in the first state to recognize this right and enshrine full suffrage for women in law. It has been an honor working with colleagues in Wyoming and Maryland on this bill to honor a pioneer so important to both of our states.”
Laramie resident Louisa Swain was 70 years old when she cast her vote in Wyoming’s general election of 1870, making her the first woman to legally vote in the United States. Later in life she moved to Maryland and was laid to rest in Baltimore. The bill passed the House of Representatives with 412 votes in the affirmative. The U.S. Senate passed the bill unanimously through a voice vote on October 7, 2021. This was a historic moment for Senator Lummis as it was her first stand-alone bill to pass through the Senate. Having passed the House Representatives, it will next be sent to the President’s desk to be signed.
To read the bill, click here.
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