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'A sign of the progress we're making': Lady lawmakers to get bathroom expansion in the Senate after 'historic' numbers make sharing just TWO stalls a 'running joke'

• U.S. Senate now boasts 20 female senators—the most ever
• The women have shared a tiny, two-stall facility just off the Senate floor for years
• New bathroom to be completed after the August recess

By Anna Sanders

Forget about demolishing that glass ceiling — women in the Senate are finally getting a much-needed update to their bathroom.

Female senators have been forced to share a two-stall facility for 20 years, causing lines and headaches. But now that the Senate boasts 20 lady lawmakers, construction crews will expand the small bathroom after August recess, The Washington Post reported.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, tweeted the renovations were 'a sign of the progress we are making'.
Historic: The Senate is getting a new, larger bathroom for this Congress' record number of female lawmakers

'We’re even going to have a window,' Shaheen told the Post.

Ever since their numbers increased, the small size of the bathroom—the only one located just off the floor—became a 'running joke' for the group of senators, the Post said.

'For the first time, there was a traffic jam in the Senate women’s bathroom,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said a week after the election according to the Post. 'There were five of us in there, and there are only two stalls.'

Klobuchar added the increase in female senators was 'wonderful', adding the group has dinners every other month.

The New York Times reported the group is even using the bathroom problem to their advantage. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, said that she and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota, strategized on a new farm bill while waiting in line.

'It’s a good problem to have,' Stebenow told the Times. 'We have enough of us now that we can negotiate in the ladies' room.'

Women have come a long way since the first female senator was elected in 1922.
Progress: Female senators have been forced to share a small, two-stall bathroom just off the Senate floor since 1993

When Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, was sworn-in 20 years ago, females didn't even have the cramped bathroom. She told seattlepi.com that the only bathroom off the Senate floor was for men.

'We had to go upstairs and down a long hall,' Murray said.

Eventually in 1993 a small, two-stall, restroom was constructed using space in from the men's facility, according to the Times.

It was bearable when there were less than 10 female senators.

'It’s no longer convenient: There’s a line,' Murray told seattlepi.com.

The women in the House of Representatives got their own update in 2011, when Speaker John A. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, directed the Architect of the Capitol to construct a female restroom adjacent to the House floor.

Before construction, female representatives had to walk 'the length of a football field' for a toilet, according to the Times.

'It’s terrific to have this here,' Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, said when it opened. 'It’s a great facility for us to have after all these years here. And it took a male Republican speaker to do it.'