Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
Floor Speech
LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - January 09, 2009)
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Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I want to commend him for his extraordinary leadership, his attention to this issue of concern to America's families. I thank him, I thank his chairman, George Miller, for championing this issue in the committee and on the floor.
And I want to particularly salute Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro for being a relentless advocate. Ten years ago, she introduced the Pay Equity Act, and she has been working on it for a long time; and over the years, our ranks have grown of those who recognize the importance of this legislation.
I am particularly happy today, my colleagues, because on Tuesday we swore in a new Congress. It was a result of an election where the American people spoke out very clearly for change. And in the very first week of this new Congress, the change that we want to make is in the lives of America's families.
This legislation hits home. It helps America's working women meet the challenges that their families face economically, and it is about ending discrimination. So I thank all of our colleagues who worked so hard over the years to put this forward. We passed it in the House in the last Congress. We passed the Lilly Ledbetter bill, really a real tribute to a heroine, a woman who is a heroine. She took her personal story and she is making change for all working women in American.
That the Supreme Court would have ruled against her after she had won one
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court challenge after another speaks to the need for this legislation. And the courts have spoken to Congress' ability to change the law if they do not agree with what the law had been before.
So here we are. This is the day. We campaigned all over the country. This issue of pay equity and Lilly Ledbetter legislation was part of the campaign. This woman from Alabama stood before crowds and talked about her personal experience. It was painful to experience it, yet she used her own situation to make life better for others. I'm sorry she cannot be with us here today, but I hope she knows how deeply grateful we all are to her because her case showcased the need for this legislation.
And again, in terms of pay equity, I'm a mother of four daughters and one son; and for all of them, this is important legislation. Many colleagues in this House--we have many women Members of the House now, many more we want, but we have fathers of daughters, and those fathers of daughters know that their daughters are capable of doing anything they set out to do and that the value that is placed on them in the workplace is the same value that is placed on young men and men of whatever age.
So I speak, really, from the heart on this in terms of what it means to women in their lives, to what it means to women in their homes, what it means to them in the workplace, what it means to them in their role in the economy, and what it means to them in their retirement because if women are not paid fairly in the course of their work years, it has an impact on their retirement as well.
So for the benefit of our economy--because this has an impact on our entire economy--I want to salute all who have brought us to this day. I think it's a happy day for our country, and as Speaker of the House, I'm particularly pleased that in the first week of the new Congress, this is the primary legislation that we are putting forward. Pay equity, fairness to women in the workplace, the Lilly Ledbetter Act. These are our priorities.
I hope that we will have a big strong vote in the Congress today so the message will go out that this Congress has heard the message of change in the election, that this Congress knows the needs of America's women, that this Congress is prepared to be relevant in its action, relevant to the concerns of America's working families.
I thank all of you for what you do, and I urge all of our colleagues to join all of us in supporting this important legislation.
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