Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1338, Paycheck Fairness Act
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1338, PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 31, 2008)
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Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Madam Chairman, I salute you for the work you have been doing on this issue and the issue of equality for women and the issue of equality for all people, and I salute Chairman Miller for his work in Congress, for being on the verge of passing this legislation.
You know, it is truly shocking that we have a situation where there is a difference in pay depending on whether you are a man or a woman. You have heard the statistics. But what is even more shocking is we had a Supreme Court that probably when history is written, its most shameful decision will be denying relief to a woman on the basis of a claim that she did not know existed. The Supreme Court said that when this person had been discriminated against for years and didn't know about it, it was the burden on her to know about something that was actively being hidden from her by her employer. It is a shocking decision by our United States Supreme Court, and this Congress has an opportunity to overturn that.
H.R. 1338 is going to address that loophole. The wage gap that strikes women immediately upon entering the workforce is bad, and it gets worse. Ten years after college, women earn only 69 percent of what men do. The wage gap adds up quickly over the course of a career, $400,000 to $2 million over a lifetime. This discrimination can cost women security and retirement. Older women are less likely than older men to receive pension income, and when they do, they only receive about one-half the benefits that men do. It can cost a woman half their pension that would be comparable for a man.
Because of the wage gap, more women than men experience poverty or teeter on the edge of poverty. Seventy percent of older Americans living in poverty are women, and that is directly as a result of wage discrimination.
The hope of the American Dream is that people who work hard will get ahead regardless of their gender, regardless of their race, regardless of their national origin, and it is the challenge of this Congress being met by the promise of this legislation to make that American dream of equality of opportunity available to all people and to absolutely prohibit discrimination in wages solely on the basis of the gender of the person doing the work.
H.R. 1338 has 230 cosponsors. It is also supported by major women's and workers' rights advocates, including the National Committee on Pay Equity and the National Women's Law Center. I ask for a ``yes'' vote and unanimous passage by the House of Representatives.
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