Paycheck Fairness Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Madam President, today we will decide whether to begin debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act. I am an original cosponsor of this bill, I strongly support it and the ideals that motivate it, and I hope that someday we can pass this legislation. But today's vote is not on final passage. It is not even a vote on whether to end debate on this measure. It is a vote on whether to begin the debate. Those who vote against cloture on this motion to proceed are not just saying they oppose equal pay for women; they are saying they do not even want to discuss it.

But a refusal to debate this measure will not make this issue go away. The fact remains that in our country today, women make 77 cents for every dollar men earn. Some of our Republican colleagues suggest there's nothing we can do about it.

As a Democrat I believe that our prosperity rests on a principle--the idea that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should have a fair shot to provide for your family, your future and your children's future. The promise of that better future is part of what gets us up every morning, gets us on the bus or in the car, and gets us to the office or the shop or the factory floor. It is the promise that our work will be rewarded.

The obvious and persistent pay gap between men and women does violence to that promise. Under current conditions, the message we send to women is this: "Work hard, play by the rules, and you'll get three quarters for every dollar's worth of work you do.'' Democrats believe that is unfair--unfair to the women it shortchanges and to the families they support. And we believe that even those of us who are not working women lose something when we do not live up to the principles of fairness and opportunity that give all of us hope for that better future.

And we Democrats want to do something about it. When you think about it, what we want to do should not be that controversial. Here is all this bill does: It requires employers to ensure that when men and women are paid differently, that the difference is related to factors such as education, training and experience, and not merely based on gender; and it strengthens protections against retaliation by employers for women who file discrimination complaints.

Surely we can all agree that pay differences should be limited to factors that truly reflect qualification and performance, and not determined by gender. Surely we can all agree that when an employee believes she or he is being treated unfairly, or that their employer has violated the law, they have the right to seek redress without fear of retribution.

Those who care about the 60 percent of American households that depend partly or entirely on a woman's income should support this bill. Those who care about the 6.9 million women trying to raise a family on what is now three-quarters of what they have worked for should support this bill. Those who care about making this a society that lives up to our professed goals of equal opportunity should support this bill.

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