[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 12, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2396-S2397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MIKULSKI (for herself, Mr. Akaka, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. 
        Cantwell, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Casey, Mr. Coons, Mr. Durbin, Mr. 
        Franken, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Kerry, Ms. Klobuchar, 
        Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Levin, Mrs. McCaskill, Mrs. 
        Murray, Mr. Reed, Mr. Reid, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
        Whitehouse, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Merkley, and Mrs. Hagan):
  S. 797. A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the 
payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce the Paycheck 
Fairness Act, an important piece of legislation that is even more 
poignant today, Equal Pay Day, which is the day in 2011 where women 
earn as much as men did in 2010. It is also unfortunately marked by 
families doing more with less, and making tough decisions to make ends 
meet. I thank the 24 of my colleagues that have joined me as original 
cosponsors of this important legislation today.
  As a U.S. Senator, I am fighting for jobs today and jobs tomorrow. I 
am on the side of a fair economy and I am on the side of good-guy 
businesses. We need an economy that works for everyone, and works for 
the American family. But that means equal pay for equal work, and that 
individuals are judged solely by their individual skills, competence, 
unique talents and nothing else. The Paycheck Fairness Act gives us the 
much needed tools to make this happen.
  Women make this country run--we are business leaders, entrepreneurs, 
politicians, mothers and more. We also bring home a growing share of 
the family pocketbook, as evidenced by a recent White House report, 
``Women In America''. But we earn just 77 cents for every dollar our 
male counterpart makes, and women of color get even less. Inexplicably, 
these disparities exist across all levels of education and occupation. 
In my home State of Maryland, the average woman has to receive a 
bachelor's degree before she earns as much as the average male high 
school graduate. This is unacceptable.
  The Paycheck Fairness Act picks up where we left off with the Lilly 
Ledbetter Fair Pay Act last Congress. Enactment of this legislation 
will mean real progress in the fight to eliminate the gender wage gap 
and help families. It has the teeth that are needed to keep 
discrimination from happening in the first place, and makes the 
consequences tougher. The Act ensures that employers who try to justify 
paying a man more than a woman for the same job must show the disparity 
is not sex-based; but job related and necessary. It prohibits employers 
from retaliating against employees who discuss or disclose salary 
information with their coworkers. The bill would also make it easier 
for women to file class-action lawsuits against employers they accuse 
of sex-based pay discrimination. And it strengthens the available 
remedies to include punitive and compensatory damages, thus bringing 
equal pay law into line with all other civil rights law. The bottom 
line is that this bill ensures that women are treated fairly in the 
workplace, something that is a matter of basic equality and civil 
rights.
  So this Equal Pay Day, let's recommit to closing the wage gap. It is 
my hope that one day, there is no need for an Equal Pay Day--that every 
year, women earn the same as men. Until then, we link up, press on, and 
push for passage of this important legislation, so that for all victims 
of pay discrimination, there is a new day ahead.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, the Nation commemorates Equal Pay 
Day, an annual occasion that celebrates the gains that women have made 
in the workplace over the last century, but which also reminds us all 
that pay discrimination still exists in the United States. In today's 
economy, a troubling constant remains: women continue to earn less than 
men. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, on 
average, women working full-time still make only 78 cents for every 
dollar working men receive. For minority women, this statistic becomes 
even more sobering.
  The U.S. Department of Labor also reports an increasing number of 
families where women are the head of the household, and 
correspondingly, the primary source of income. Despite the signs of 
economic recovery, many women and families continue to struggle to make 
ends meet. This issue is not one that just impacts one individual; it 
creates additional economic hardship for entire families. Vermont is a 
leader in the Nation on fair pay practices, and 8 years ago, the State 
acted to pass an equal pay act, which prohibits compensating women and

[[Page S2397]]

men differently for equal work that requires equal skill, effort, and 
responsibility under similar working conditions. Now in Vermont, 
employers cannot require wage nondisclosure agreements, and employees 
are protected from retaliation for disclosing their own wage. Still, 
there is room for improvement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 
that Vermont women working full-time earn wages amounting to 81.9 
percent of what men earn. We must work harder to ensure that women are 
paid equal wages for equal work, across the country.
  The 1963 Equal Pay Act was enacted to protect employees against 
discrimination with respect to compensation because of an individual's 
race, color, religion, sex or national origin. While we have made 
progress, our work is not done. Hardworking women--and the American 
people--earned a long fought victory in early 2009, when President 
Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to reverse the 
U.S. Supreme Court's devastating decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear 
Tire, a decision that rolled back years of progress to eliminate 
workplace discrimination. But the efforts to achieve parity for women 
in the workplace continues.
  Two bills introduced today will help the United States reach that 
goal. These bills include provisions similar to those enacted in 
Vermont. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which was introduced by Senator 
Mikulski and which I am proud to cosponsor, creates stronger incentives 
for employers to follow the law; strengthens penalties for equal pay 
violations; and prohibits retaliation against workers for disclosing 
their own wage information. This bill passed the House of 
Representatives with bipartisan support over a year ago, and deserves 
action in the Senate. The Fair Pay Act, which was introduced by Senator 
Harkin and which I am also proud to cosponsor, requires employers to 
pay equally for jobs of comparable skill, efforts and working 
conditions, and to disclose pay scales and rates for all job categories 
at a given company. To effectively close the wage gap we must address 
the systemic problems that are resulting in pay disparities. I believe 
both these bills are essential steps to closing the wage gap.
  Equal pay for equal work is neither a Democratic nor Republican 
issue; it is an American value. It is neither a private sector nor a 
public sector issue; it is a fundamental issue of fairness. Sadly, wage 
discrimination affects women of every generation and every 
socioeconomic background. It is not limited to one career path or level 
of education. The Senate should pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and the 
Fair Pay Act, and work toward other solutions to ensure our daughters 
and granddaughters, and all future generations of Americans, are not 
subject to the same discrimination that has plagued women for decades.
                                 ______