[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 19, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S3900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. 
        Mikulski, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. 
        Lincoln, Mr. Corzine, and Mr. Kerry):
  S. 840. A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
prohibit discrimination in the payment of wages on account of sex, 
race, or national origin, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and Senators Murray, 
Kennedy, Mikulski, Durbin, Leahy, Akaka, Feingold, Lincoln, Corzine and 
Kerry, I am introducing the Fair Pay Act.
  April 19th is Equal Pay Day. Even though the Equal Pay Act was passed 
more than 40 years ago, women working full time, year-round, still make 
only 76 cents for every dollar that a man makes. On April 19th, four 
days after tax returns for 2004 are due, U.S. women will finally reach 
the earnings mark that their male counterparts achieved by December 
31st of last year. April 19th reminds us that the 60 million working 
women in this country are suffering economically because equal pay is 
still not a reality.
  We've got millions of families struggling to make ends meet. The 
White House and the Republican House leadership believes a $750 billion 
tax cut for the rich is the solution, a permanent one.
  I disagree. One way we can put more money in the pockets of working 
families is to pay women what they're worth. Nearly 40 years after the 
Equal Pay Act became law, women are still paid only 76 cents for every 
dollar a man earns.
  Working women at all income and education levels are affected by the 
wage gap. In 2003, the GAO found that the pay gap continues to affect 
women in management and that, for these women, the pay gap has actually 
widened since 1995.
  Regardless of education, the impact is the same. These women work as 
hard as men, but have less money to pay the bills, to put food on the 
table, or to save for their retirement or their child's education. That 
is simply wrong and it must end. We must close the wage gap once and 
for all.
  First, we need to do a better job by enforcing and strengthening the 
penalties for the law that demands equal pay for equal work. That's why 
I support the Paycheck Fairness Act, sponsored by Senator Clinton and 
Congresswoman DeLauro.
  However, an even more important part of discrimination against women 
in the work place is the historic pattern of undervaluing and 
underpaying so-called ``women's jobs.''
  Millions of women today working in female-dominated jobs--as social 
workers, teachers, child care workers and nurses--are ``equivalent'' in 
skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions to similar jobs 
dominated by men, but these women aren't paid the same as men.
  That's what the Fair Pay Act--that Congresswoman Norton and I are 
reintroducing today--would address. Unfairly low pay in jobs dominated 
by women is un-American, it is discriminatory and our bill would make 
it illegal.
  Twenty States have ``fair pay'' laws and policies in place for their 
employees, including my State of Iowa. And Iowa had a Republican 
legislature and Governor when this bill passed into law, so ending wage 
discrimination against women is a nonpartisan issue.
  Some say we don't need any more laws; market forces will take care of 
the wage gap. If we had relied on market forces we would have never 
passed the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Family Medical 
Leave Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  I first introduced the Fair Pay Act in 1996 after the Iowa Business 
and Professional Women alerted me to this problem. And as long as I'm 
in the U.S. Senate, I will continue to fight to pass this important 
legislation so we can end wage discrimination against women once and 
for all.
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