

Clinton has a string of political events this month. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton said Thursday that Congress is alarmingly detached from the lives of everyday Americans and encouraged people to turn policy ideas into political movements.

"The Congress, increasingly, despite the best efforts of my friends and others, is living in an evidence-free zone where what the reality is in the lives of Americans is so far from the minds of too many," said Clinton.

Progress on issues like the minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for women has been impeded by lawmakers who are disconnected from the struggles people are facing, she argued. The economic struggles everyday Americans deal with are "roiling beneath the surface of the political debates," said Clinton.

The former secretary of state of spoke at a panel discussion on women's economic security matters at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington. She was joined by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), among others.

Clinton said that addressing women's issues requires ensuring a policy debate plays out in the electoral discourse.

"When we can turn an issue into a political movement that demands people be responsive during the election season, it carries over," said Clinton. "So, these issues have to be in the lifeblood of this election or any election."

The panelists discussed the importance of paycheck fairness, full participation by women in the workforce, voting and investment in early childhood learning programs.

"Where women are left out," Clinton said, "their children suffer, their communities suffer."

Modern day workplace polices "are stuck in the Mad Men era," said Gillibrand.

DeLauro lauded Clinton's record fighting for women and appeared to allude to her consideration of a 2016 presidential campaign.

"Hillary, I don't know if you're here -- what this signals in terms of your future -- I know what it signals in terms of the issues that you care about and what you have been championing for a lifetime," she said.