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Paycheck Fairness Act

Floor Speech

Date: March 27, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Women Employment and Affirmative Action

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Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Chair, our Republican colleagues say the Paycheck Fairness Act is unnecessary, a boom for trial attorneys and a burden on employers, but once again the latest numbers tell a different story. American women continue to lag far behind fair pay for equal work.

The latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau once again revealed that American women working full-time, year-round, are typically paid only 80 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. The pay gaps are even more severe for women of color: 61 cents for African American women and 53 cents for Latina women.

Women take home less money than they have rightfully earned in every industry, no matter what they do, how high their level of education, or where they are from.

Not only is this a matter of basic equality, economic justice and freedom, it also compounds and is a significant issue impacting women's retirement security.

The Paycheck Fairness Act provides a long-overdue remedy to the 1963 Equal Pay Act. It will give women the tools needed to successfully challenge pay discrimination and to incentivize employers to comply with the law.

I urge all my colleagues to support its passage.

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