Paycheck Fairness Act

Floor Speech

PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT -- (House of Representatives - January 09, 2009)

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Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my enthusiastic support for H.R. 12, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and I thank Chairman Miller of the Education and Labor Committee and Congresswoman DeLauro, the sponsor of this legislation, for their tireless work and their leadership on this issue.

To paraphrase James Madison, if men and women were angels, no government would be necessary. In an ideal world, we wouldn't need legislation to reinforce a concept of equal pay for equal work.

But even today in 2009, women make an average of only 78 cents for every dollar made by their male counterparts. The importance of the Paycheck Fairness Act is clear. Gender-based wage discrimination has been illegal in this country since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was signed into law. Yet, the pay disparity between women and men that still persists today highlights the need to take another look at our wage discrimination laws. This disparity, by the way, is estimated to cost a working woman between $400,000 and $2 million over a lifetime. I am a proud cosponsor and urge ``yes.''

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