National Equal Pay Day
Floor Speech
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Mr. LEAHY. The distinguished Senator from Nevada owes me no apologies. I am delighted to hear what he had to say and I agree with him.
Mr. President, today we Vermonters and our neighbors, Americans across the country, are going to recognize Equal Pay Day, a day that shines a spotlight on the glaring pay disparity between men and women. The United States is often looked to as a leader in the global landscape, setting the gold standard for others to follow. Unfortunately, our country fails to lead when it comes to pay parity. American women continue to be treated unequally and unfairly in the workplace.
On average, women are only paid 79 cents to every $1 paid to men. It is somewhat better in Vermont, but there is still a disparity of 83 cents to a dollar. Over a career, this means a woman is compensated hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars less than a man with no other explanation for the disparity than their gender. This practice is unacceptable, and it runs contrary to American values.
The fight for equal pay for equal work has spanned generations and continues to impact nearly every corner of our country. From corporate boardrooms to locally owned small businesses, women have long fought for their right to be treated with the same respect and dignity as their male counterparts.
When I think of this fight, I think of Lilly Ledbetter, a person whom I greatly admire and consider a friend. She has changed the lives of millions of Americans with her courage to stand up for equal pay. It has been nearly 9 years since five Justices on the Supreme Court ruled, by just a one-vote majority, that her pay discrimination claim was invalid--not because of the facts. She had a good pay discrimination claim, but the narrow majority said she did not file a suit against her employer within the Federally mandated time period, even though the way the employer ran things, made it so she had no way of knowing she was being discriminated against at that time. I was proud to work with Senator Mikulski and others to overturn this injustice. We wrote and passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This important legislation clarified the statute of limitations for filing an equal pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination. I was proud to stand with President Obama when he signed this into law, the very first law he signed as President.
The progress achieved 7 years ago was important, but the fight for equal pay for equal work continues today. I am proud to cosponsor Senator Mikulski's Paycheck Fairness Act, an important bill to assure equal pay for equal work--a principle that people say they agree with but for too long has failed to be a reality.
Today women from all over Vermont will assemble at the Vermont State House. They will highlight the initiative known as Change the Story, which aims to improve the economic status of women in my State. They will note that while in Vermont women fare slightly better than the average around the country, at the current pace, the wage gap will not disappear before the year 2048. That is far too long for anybody to have to wait.
I would also point out that in Vermont, women are twice as likely to live in poverty in their senior years, when their savings amount to only one-third of that of their male counterparts.
Every year, Marcelle and I present the Vermont Women's Economic Opportunity Conference. For two decades, it has helped support women- owned businesses. It encourages good-paying, nontraditional careers. But as we prepare to mark the 20th anniversary of the Women's Economic Opportunity Conference in June, I would much prefer if we could eliminate the need for such a conference. I look forward to the day when there is no gender wage gap and when career opportunities are available to all women, but until that day comes, Marcelle and I will continue to present that conference.
Pay equality has recently received considerable attention at the international level. Why? In large part, due to the leadership of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team. We can all recall the thrill last year when this team of world-class athletes won for a third time soccer's most coveted title, the FIFA World Cup.
I remember, and I remember my children and my grandchildren watched that thrilling victory. It was the most widely viewed women's soccer game in our Nation's history. Like so many other Americans, men and women, I took pride in their historic win. But then fans from across the world were shocked to learn that members of the U.S. women's team received only $2 million for winning the 2015 Women's World Cup, while the men's 2014 World Cup champions were awarded $35 million.
We were also astonished to learn that our 2015 world champion women's team received $7 million less than the U.S. men's team that lost in an early round of the men's 2014 World Cup. Even though this sports team made enormous amounts of money from the television rights, the women who earned those rights did not. They got paid less than the men who lost. They got paid less for winning than the men who lost.
So, as a result of this alarming inequity, I introduced a Senate resolution calling on FIFA to eliminate its discriminatory prize award structure and to award all athletes with equal prizes. It was disappointing that not a single Republican was willing to cosponsor this resolution. When I tried to get it passed to support fairness for our champion women's team, when I tried to get this passed to say that we should treat women fairly--we should treat the women athletes the same as men athletes--Senate Republicans blocked it from going forward.
As more Americans learn of this unfairness, I am hopeful that Senators will join me to support this passage and that Republicans will stop blocking it. Senators should not be afraid to be on record supporting equal pay for equal work for all athletes--in fact, equal pay for equal work for all women.
Opponents of an equal prize award structure in sports have pointed to revenue as the reason behind this gross disparity. This is unacceptable. Tennis icons such as Billie Jean King and Venus Williams did not accept these arguments; instead, they fought for equal prize awards in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Their impressive efforts led to equal prize awards at the U.S. Open Tennis championships and Wimbledon, which now provides all athletes, men and women, with the respect they deserve. So I am proud to stand in support of the U.S. Women's National Team in their fight for equal prize awards from FIFA and for equal treatment from the U.S. Soccer Federation.
The disparities that exist in these organizations are outrageous. They should be remedied immediately. They should be arranged so that men and women are treated fairly and equally. While every Democrat has supported that, I hope Republicans will stop blocking it.
As we reflect on the important meaning of Equal Pay Day, I would note that it is not just Republicans or Democrats--but all Americans across the country who should continue to join the growing movement to eliminate discrimination from the workplace. Hard-working women--our mothers, our sisters, our wives, our daughters, and our granddaughters--deserve no less.
We should pass this resolution recognizing the achievement of the U.S. Women's National Team as the Women's World Cup champions. We should pass Senator Mikulski's Paycheck Fairness Act, which I have proudly cosponsored. We should take these simple and straightforward steps to guarantee pay equity protections against workplace discrimination. The time for equality is now. Let's be honest. Let's stand up and say: Both men and women should be treated equally.
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