Its a good thing there are no pressing issues right now...
By laglen
@laglen (19759)
United States
May 12, 2010 10:33am CST
Men may still be left holding their peanuts at the ballpark while waiting for their dates in the ladies room, but a House panel on Wednesday was considering whether to rectify the disparity in wait times for the loo in federal buildings.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings Wednesday on the "Potty Parity Act," a bill that seeks to address the unequal number of restroom facilities for women in federal buildings by requiring at least a 1-to-1 ratio for toilets, including urinals, in women's and men's restrooms.
Supporters of the bill say women forced to wait in long restroom lines are at risk of health issues, including abdominal pain, cystitis and other urinary tract infections.
"A lot of times people, when I dealt with this bill, called it 'potty parity.' They made jokes," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who proposed similar legislation as a state lawmaker that was enacted in the 1990s.
"The fact is, it's not a joke. Not only is it not a joke to women, it's not a joke to men who go with the women who have to wait while they're standing in line," he said. "It's also politically very popular. It's the right thing to do and it's catching up with the cultural lag in our society."
Others who testified at hearing included Kathryn Anthony, an architecture professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Sharon Pratt, the former mayor of Washington D.C.
The legislation would cover most federal facilities in Washington and across the country, including all properties managed by the National Parks Service, the Defense Department, the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
"Today, women still lack equal access to restrooms in many places of employment, education, and recreation," said Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the committee who authored the legislation.
"The fact that many federal buildings do not provide as many restroom facilities for women as they do for men is simply unfair," he said in his opening remarks. "It's time for that to change."
The bill is being co-sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member on the panel.
"I believe that there are a number of serious health and fairness issues related to restroom gender parity that we can address in newly constructed, acquired, and leased federal buildings, or in existing buildings undergoing major renovations," Issa said.
The Congressional Budget Office has not put a price tag yet on the legislation.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/11/congress-examine-restroom-inequalities-federal-buildings/
so, immigration, cap and tax, pakistan, iran, un, oil spill, unemployment, supreme court and the list goes on, can wait but a line at the flippin bathroom cant? Go in the parking lot thats what I do or carry an empty bottle! How about the cost to update said bathrooms? Are we so "flush" that we need to find new things to spend money on?
7 responses
@peavey (16936)
• United States
12 May 10
Apparently, you're not a woman! LOL (go in the parking lot??)
But I agree, this is ridiculous. Can they not convert a men's bathroom to a women's bathroom, if that's needed? And does it take a hearing to do that???
This is a good example of a perverted sense of importance and an inability to prioritize. No wonder they're such a mess.
1 person likes this

@spalladino (17891)
• United States
12 May 10
Clearly you have never had to wait in a long line in order to use the facilities.
If anyone knows how hard it is for women to use a ladies room in D.C., it's former Mayor Sharon Pratt and, by the way, it's illegal to relieve yourself in a parking lot or behind a bush in the city. I also don't believe that this is a minor issue. The attitude of "too bad, go to the parking lot and use a bottle, modifying buildings is too expensive" is the same as telling a handicapped person "too bad, drag yourself up three flights of stairs because adding ramps and elevators is too expensive". Women have to pee too!
There are more women working in federal buildings today than there were a couple of decades ago and their needs DO matter. The cost is not outrageous...move an existing wall or two, add some additional stalls and hook up some additional plumbing. As far as other things being more important...other things will always be more important but a federal employee or a visitor to a federal building should not have to wait in a long line to use a bathroom simply because she's a woman.
If anyone knows how hard it is for women to use a ladies room in D.C., it's former Mayor Sharon Pratt and, by the way, it's illegal to relieve yourself in a parking lot or behind a bush in the city. I also don't believe that this is a minor issue. The attitude of "too bad, go to the parking lot and use a bottle, modifying buildings is too expensive" is the same as telling a handicapped person "too bad, drag yourself up three flights of stairs because adding ramps and elevators is too expensive". Women have to pee too!
There are more women working in federal buildings today than there were a couple of decades ago and their needs DO matter. The cost is not outrageous...move an existing wall or two, add some additional stalls and hook up some additional plumbing. As far as other things being more important...other things will always be more important but a federal employee or a visitor to a federal building should not have to wait in a long line to use a bathroom simply because she's a woman.1 person likes this

@spalladino (17891)
• United States
12 May 10
Not exactly, Lil. Federal buildings are a different animal. Federal funds need to be appropriated, someone has to head the project, plans have to be made, expenditures need to be accounted for. It's not as simple as converting some men's bathrooms to women's either. If there's one bathroom on a particular floor, for instance...and it's a men's bathroom...a woman's bathroom needs to be constructed. This involves a lot of buildings and I'm sure that conversions from men's to women's will be possible in some cases but not in all.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
12 May 10
I agree that the changes need to get made...but come on...do they need a "hearing and debate" over changing some of the mens rooms into ladies rooms? That is a little overboard in my opinion. Just get it done. No need for all the drama and drawn out procedures...get it done move on to other things. but you know our government...they have to make everything into a big production.
1 person likes this

@EvanHunter (4026)
• United States
12 May 10
I don't know why this would surprise anyone our politicians have been giving us crap for years its always number one on their list.
@TheMetallion (1834)
• United States
12 May 10
Hey, when you gotta go you gotta go! 

1 person likes this
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
13 May 10
I'm not going to say it's not an "issue", but for me, it ranks right down there about 4000 or lower. What ranks number one is our out-of-control spending and national debt. I've been known to use the men's bathroom when I needed one that bad and the women's line is wrapped around the corner. I've been known to pee outside and I'd do that again, too, if I had to. Sure I'd like to see more women's bathrooms in lots of facilities, not just the federal buildings, but we have major debts to address. We just can't keep adding/fixing/updating...did I say adding to our debt.
1 person likes this
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
12 May 10
LOL....this is sooo wrong. I mean come on...they should be working on bigger issues than this. BUt then we are talking about congress...the same people who spent time with "steriods in baseball" instead of the national debt, or fixing social security...or any of the other really important issues we have going on. THey just LOVE to waste our time and money on BS instead of working on the real issues. But comparing how big of a mess they make of things when they work on the "big issues" maybe it is a good thing they aren't working on them.
1 person likes this








