Republican Senators Say No to Fair Pay Act

by Jeremy Leaming

Continuing their streak of obstructionism or satisfying a desire to simply do nothing, Senate Republicans today blocked a measure to fight wage discrimination against women.

The Paycheck Fairness Act, supported by civil liberties groups, Democratic senators and President Obama, would have provided means for women to expose and challenge wage discrimination.

Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, said, “Closing the wage gap is critical to families’ economic security. Nearly 15 million households in this country are headed by women, and nearly 30 percent of those households are living in poverty. Women are the primary or co-breadwinners in two-thirds of families. Yet, due to the wage gap, they are losing more than $10,000 in income every year.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (pictured) in defending his party’s obstruction of the legislation claimed he was concerned about an uptick in litigation. “We don’t think America suffers from a lack of litigation,” he said, The Associated Press reported. “We got a lot of problems. Not enough lawsuits is not one of them.”

The 52 – 47 vote was short of the 60 votes needed to end the Republican filibuster. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a co-sponsor of the measure, said his Party “would continue to build the case for these remedies, which will make a pocketbook difference to so many women in the American workforce, and to their families.”

In a post for The White House Blog, Colleen Curtis says if women are “making less than men do for the same work, families have to get by with less money for childcare and tuition and rent, and small businesses have fewer customers. Everybody suffers.”

During his first year office, Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act into law, providing women greater opportunity to challenge wage discrimination in federal court. The law reversed the effect of the Supreme Court’s 2007 Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. opinion that dismissed Lilly Ledbetter’s wage discrimination case saying it was brought in an untimely manner.

Following today’s vote, Ledbetter blasted the obstructionism. “We cannot let [Republicans] take away the few privileges we’re earned,” TPM reported.

[image via Gage Skidmore]