[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 66 (Thursday, April 24, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3375-S3376]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REPUBLICAN FILIBUSTERS

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise to express my deep disappointment 
and concern about last night's vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay 
Act. Unfortunately, colleagues across the aisle voted to block us from 
considering what is an important bill that relates to fairness, fair 
pay, equality, and recognition of the hard work of women all across 
this country. We weren't even allowed to bring this to the floor of the 
Senate to begin the debate. It wasn't only about pay discrimination; it 
was about fundamental fairness for working families, as so many of 
those working families are headed by women. The vote last night sends 
the wrong message to families who are struggling to stretch their 
paychecks to pay for higher gas prices, groceries, health care costs, 
all of the things they need to survive and care for their families, 
childcare costs, on and on and on. Voting to block this bill from even 
coming up for consideration says to these women and their families that 
this body does not understand and is not on their side when they have 
been treated unfairly or taken advantage of on the job.
  I am proud of the fact that Senator Reid, our majority leader, saw 
fit to bring this bill forward as a priority in the crush of time we 
have to consider legislation in the Senate. I am proud of Senator 
Kennedy for his passion and leadership in bringing this bill out of 
committee and fighting so vigorously, and all of my women colleagues 
who came to the floor to stand up for women across America. 
Unfortunately, we were stopped from even proceeding to the bill. I am 
hopeful at some point we can come back and colleagues on the other side 
of the aisle will decide, rather than turning their backs on millions 
of women across the country, that they will join us in doing what is 
right to guarantee that if a woman is working hard every day, putting 
in the same amount of hours, lifting the same boxes and doing the same 
kind of work, she will know she is protected and feel confident the law 
is on her side that she will receive equal pay.
  Unfortunately, this is not an isolated vote. This has been a pattern. 
We have spoken many times about what has been happening in the last 
year and a half. We now have seen 68 Republican filibusters. We had a 
filibuster that stopped us from proceeding. We have a fancy title for 
it, called a cloture vote on a motion to proceed. But the reality is, 
Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle have filibustered 
our ability to move forward on equal pay for women in the workplace. 
This is one of 68 different times in the last year and a half that we 
have brought forward something critically important to families, from 
extending unemployment insurance to addressing health care, education, 
and economic issues, focusing on those things that directly affect 
families every day.
  We know around here the way the rules work. You can filibuster and 
you can stop something if you don't have 60 votes. Unfortunately, we 
don't at this time have 60 votes to stop filibusters. There have been 
so many that we have put this on a board with Velcro so we can change 
it. We have to change it way too many times, because this number goes 
up every week. We are now at 68. This is an historic record in the 
Senate that we would see this many filibusters to block moving forward 
an agenda for change that the American people are desperately asking 
for.
  We will continue to bring these issues forward that are absolutely 
critical. We will continue to bring forward areas of investment in the 
future and creating jobs and tackling health care costs and access and 
children's health insurance and quality education and tax fairness and 
all of these other things that are so critical for the American 
people--fair trade, so that we are exporting products and not jobs.

  We are going to continue to bring this forward. But we are going to 
continue--unfortunately--to see this number go up. It is important the 
American people understand what is happening.
  Now, we also, earlier today, saw something else happen--it did not 
quite come to the point of blocking in terms of a motion to proceed but 
efforts of delay, waiting, obstructing, over and over again. Earlier 
today, we passed a bill to help our Nation's veterans by almost a 
unanimous vote. We should be proud of having done that on a bipartisan 
basis. But this bill was reported out of committee last year. It was 
blocked for 7 months--7 months--by colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle. Then we had to spend a week trying to get this bill done. There 
was the procedural motion, again, to force us to vote on whether to 
even consider the bill, and then that vote was unanimous--unanimous. 
Yet that vote was forced so the time would run so we would slow-walk a 
bill we have been waiting to take up for veterans and their families 
for 7 months.
  People expect better from us. I am very hopeful we will come together 
and begin to see the change the American people want to have happen and 
be the focus of this body.
  Mr. President, I will speak for a moment about the Lilly Ledbetter 
Fair Pay Act because this issue of equal pay, of fairness in the 
workplace, is not going to go away. We are going to come back and we 
are going to come back until we get this Court decision fixed.
  Lilly Ledbetter was one of the few female supervisors in a Goodyear 
tire plant in Gadsen, AL. She got up early in the morning. She sweated 
throughout long shifts, which often stretched to 18 hours or more when 
another supervisor was absent, just like her male counterparts. For 
years she endured insults from her male bosses because she was a woman 
in a traditionally male job.
  Late in her career with the company, Lilly discovered that Goodyear 
paid her male counterparts 20 percent to 40 percent more than what she 
earned for doing the very same job for all of those years. She filed a 
lawsuit, just as she should have, and the jury awarded her full 
damages.
  She was right. This was against the law. This was unfair. We need to 
value work and value equal work. The court sided with her.
  However, the Roberts Supreme Court overruled the jury, stating that 
Ms. Ledbetter was not entitled to anything because she waited too long 
to file her claim. The Supreme Court ruled that victims of 
discrimination have only 180 days of the last discriminatory raise to 
file a lawsuit for discrimination--even if they did not know about it, 
even if they knew nothing about it.
  So in Lilly Ledbetter's case, it did not matter that her employer 
discriminated against her for years and that she had been, for years, 
paid less than her male counterparts. Instead, the

[[Page S3376]]

Roberts Supreme Court reversed decades--decades--of precedent and the 
intent of the law. It also overturned the policy of the EEOC under both 
Democratic and Republican administrations.
  After the Ledbetter case--until we fix this--workers are powerless to 
hold their employers accountable for unlawful, unjust, unfair, unequal 
conduct. It creates an incentive for employers to discriminate against 
workers because now if they can hide the discrimination for just 180 
days, then they are home free and the worker can do nothing about it.
  The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will fix this injustice and put 
Federal law in the same place it was the day before the Court decision. 
This has been American law. It has been American law about fairness and 
equal pay. All we are trying to do is reverse this extreme decision of 
the Supreme Court and put it back in current law.
  The economic impact of unfair pay practices on working families is 
staggering. Today, women still make 77 cents for every $1 men make. In 
Michigan, it is even lower: 70 cents for every $1.
  The current job climate has been particularly hard on women and 
people of color all across America. The unemployment rate for women has 
risen sharply, and their wages are falling faster than men's. For 
people of color, the unemployment rate is even higher. African 
Americans' unemployment rate is almost twice the national average. The 
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would help correct this unfairness, this 
disparity.
  Just as important as upholding the rights of women, the Fair Pay Act 
is needed because the Ledbetter case would affect all kinds of 
discrimination cases. At the end of the day, it simply puts the law 
back where it was and creates the opportunity for fairness and 
equality.
  Let me say that when a woman goes to the store in Michigan, she does 
not pay less for milk. When she goes to the gas station, she does not 
pay less for gas. She does not pay less for the food or the electric 
bill. She does not pay less in any area. Yet until we fix this 
outrageous Supreme Court decision, she can be paid less for the very 
same job.
  Mr. President, let me also say a few words about the bill we passed 
earlier today for veterans. That bill was almost unanimously passed, 
despite being held up for 7 months.
  For too many of our servicemembers, that last day on Active Duty is 
just the first day of a difficult transition back to civilian life.
  Our veterans deserve every benefit they get, and more. But too often 
our veterans return home to find out their insurance is inadequate or 
it is very hard to figure out their educational benefits because they 
are spread out over numerous different agencies.
  Perhaps most important, under current law, our permanently disabled 
veterans who are recovering from injuries cannot even count on the 
Federal Government to help them finance necessities such as wheelchairs 
or wheelchair ramps for their homes.
  When the men and women of our Armed Services put on the uniform, they 
are making a promise to defend America. In return, we promise them that 
a grateful nation will be there for them when they come home. What they 
do need--and what we owe them--is a system that works for them, not 
against them.
  That is why the Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act that was just 
passed today is so critically important. It addresses many of the 
problems that plague this difficult transition to stateside life and 
provides necessary improvements to education and health care and 
insurance programs.
  This bill would expand the number of individuals qualifying for 
retroactive benefits for traumatic injury protection coverage. This is 
important for all of our veterans because we are now learning that this 
kind of injury is happening more often than we thought, and it can have 
a devastating impact.
  Just last week, a new veterans center was opened in Saginaw, MI. This 
center will not only assist our veterans returning from combat but will 
also serve our veterans from as far back as World War II--the war my 
father fought in. These veterans should also be eligible for benefits 
if they are victims of traumatic brain injury.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 1 minute remaining.
  Ms. STABENOW. Thank you, Mr. President.
  The act would expand eligibility for home improvement and structural 
alteration assistance. It would also improve survivor benefits for the 
surviving children of our service men and women and a number of other 
things.
  I am glad we passed this legislation. I am sorry it was held up for 7 
months, and then all this week there was obstructionism and delay 
before we could get to it. But I am glad we got it done.
  I am deeply disappointed that earlier this week we saw another 
filibuster that stopped us from proceeding to an equally important 
bill, and that is a bill that relates to equal pay and protection under 
the law, when women are working hard every single day and find 
themselves in a situation where they are receiving less than male 
counterparts for the same job. It is wrong. It needs to be fixed for 
the women of America and their families.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time is expired.
  Ms. STABENOW. Thank you, Mr. President. I look forward to the 
opportunity to bring this to the floor again, and, hopefully, we will 
be able to get it done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be granted 
up to 15 minutes for my remarks today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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