Designating Certain Land Components of the National Wilderness Preservation System
Floor Speech
DESIGNATING CERTAIN LAND COMPONENTS OF THE NATIONAL WILDERNESS PRESERVATION SYSTEM -- (Senate - January 14, 2009)
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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I wish to thank Senator Mikulski for those very nice words.
I am proud to join Senator Mikulski and so many of the women in this body in support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Early in the 1980s, I served on New Hampshire's Commission on the Status of Women. At that time, I chaired a committee that investigated and then reported on the status of women's employment in New Hampshire. At that time, women made 59 cents for every dollar a man earned. That report, which I was proud to coauthor, pointed out that, ultimately, pay disparity affects not just women, it affects their families and it affects the entire ability of working families to earn a good living. Over the course of a woman's lifetime, that pay discrimination is estimated to cost women between $700,000 and $1 million.
As has been pointed out by the women who have spoken on this bill today, we have made some progress. Today, women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, but the conclusions our report made about the impact of this pay disparity for women are even truer today than they were in 1981, at the time of the report.
As Senator Klobuchar and Senator Mikulski have so eloquently pointed out, the inability of women to be treated with pay equity in the workplace has a huge impact today, as families are facing this recession and are looking at how to be able to make ends meet. I think the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a very important step toward addressing the inequality that not just women but working families face in our country.
I wish to congratulate Senator Mikulski. As has been pointed out, she was the first woman elected to this body in her own right. We have made significant progress, much of it as a result of her leadership. I am delighted to be able to join as a cosponsor of this bill and look forward to voting with the majority of the Senate for final passage of this act.
I yield the floor.
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