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The Greatest Selfie Ever?

by Alicia Lu

On Thursday night, Hillary Clinton and the nation's top female Democratic Congressional leaders convened at the Center For American Progress' panel on women's economic security. In addition to asking some necessary questions about the difficulties that women continue to face in 2014, the women also made a lasting impression another way: Like the group of BFFs we suspect they are, Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and others took a wonderful selfie that screamed "Girl power!"

Joined by House Minority Leader Pelosi, Senator Patty Murray, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Representative Rosa DeLauro, Clinton spoke at the event and discussed crucial women's issues like universal child care, paid maternity leave, and closing the pay gap. Clinton addressed the fact that, with so many women taking over the workforce, equal pay would increase the U.S. gross domestic product by 10 percent. She asked the panel:

Why are we leaving 10 percent on the table because we don't do enough to give women the support they need to be empowered, to give them the support they need to take care of themselves and their families?

Pelosi and DeLauro also championed for equal pay, with Pelosi former commenting, "It's inevitable to us; it's inconceivable to them." "Them" being Republicans in Congress who continue to oppose additional pay equality legislation.

The Center For American Progress, as its name suggests, is a think tank dedicated to improving America through progressive thought and action. And that's exactly what Clinton called for when she suggested that these economic issues be turned into a political movement that would become "the lifeblood of this election and any election," yet another nod to her potential platform in the 2016 presidential race.

Clinton told the panel:

We need people to feel that they are part of a movement. That it’s not just about an election, but about a movement — a movement to really empower themselves, their families and take the future over in a way that is going to give us back the country we care so much about.

If that movement is looking for visual branding, may we suggest the perfect face(s) for it?

Before the panel ended, Clinton, Pelosi, Gillibrand, Murray, DeLauro — joined by Center For American Progress President Neera Tanden and panelist Rhiannon Broschat — took an epic group selfie. Pelosi tweeted the pic with the very apt caption, "If too much #girlpower can break the Internet, we might be in trouble."

Break the Internet all you want, guys, because we need more demonstrations of female empowerment like that. Maybe, one day, it won't just be Twitter able to handle it — the rest of Congress will, too.

Image: Nancy Pelosi/Twitter