Equal Pay Day

Floor Speech

* Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, Tuesday, April 20, 2010 marked the observance of National Equal Pay Day--a time to celebrate the women who have blazed trails for gender equality, reflect on the progress that has been made since the Equal Pay Act and recommit ourselves to closing the wage gap between women and men.

* When the Equal Pay Act became law in 1963, women who worked full-time, year-round made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men. That figure only went up to 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2008. It is unconscionable that more than 40 years later, women continue to be paid less for performing the same job as their male colleagues. Equal Pay Day reminds us of the need to recommit to ending the injustice of wage discrimination.

* Last year, one of the first major bills signed into law by President Obama in January 2009, was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which restores the right of women and other minorities to challenge unfair pay in court. Specifically, the bill overturned a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it much harder for women and other minority groups to pursue pay discrimination claims. As long as workers file their charges within 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck, their claims for a remedy will be considered timely.

* In January 2009, the House of Representatives also passed the Paycheck Fairness Act which closes the loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and imposes penalties on employers who discriminate based on gender. We look forward to working with the Senate to complete this bill and send it to the President's desk.

* Pay inequity is not just an issue that impacts women; families, communities, and our entire economy suffer because of this injustice. Our Nation is still recovering from an economic recession and thousands of Americans continue to struggle to make ends meet. We should not allow pay inequity to exacerbate our economic challenges.

* Let us reaffirm our commitment to eliminating this inequality so that we can truly achieve equal pay for equal work.

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