[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 83 (Tuesday, June 5, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3713-S3714]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 2:30
will be equally divided, with the minority controlling the first half.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we are coming to a very critical vote.
Today we have the opportunity to address an issue that affects the
bottom line of nearly every American family. The paychecks that
American women take home at the end of each week or each month are as
tied to our economic health as just about anything else. It is what
helps sustain local businesses. It is what pays grocery bills at the
end of the month. It makes mortgage payments. Ultimately, the pay women
receive as we continue to make up a larger and larger part of our
workforce is going to be critical to the growth of this Nation. Yet
over the course of the past week, as we have debated this bill in the
Senate and across the country, we have been met by either silence or
resistance from those on the other side of the aisle. Time and again we
have heard the same excuses on why we cannot join together to provide
the guaranteed fairness women deserve.
First, we heard this was a ``manufactured issue.'' Mr. President, if
you talk to American women all across our country, you will quickly
learn what some of my colleagues have called ``manufactured'' is an
all-too-real part of everyday American women's lives. Women will tell
you that at a time when families across America are struggling to make
ends meet, equal pay for equal work should not be a pipe dream; it
should be law. They will tell you that nearly 50 years after the Equal
Pay Act was signed, the pay gap between what men and women earn is just
as real today as it was back then. They will tell you women still earn
77 cents for every dollar earned by men. They will tell you this gap
undermines their retirement security because they receive reduced
Social Security benefits. Then, most importantly, they will tell you
women are not worth less than men.
The other argument we have heard is that this critical vote is in
some way a distraction from the economic issues we face, as if somehow
the pay of women--who compromise nearly half of all American workers--
is not at its very core an economic issue. Let me be very clear. When
women are not paid what they deserve, middle-class families,
communities, and our economic growth pay the price.
Let's consider that in my home State of Washington where women still
earn 77 cents on the dollar--or a pay gap that averages over $11,000 in
lost earnings every year--for the average family that is an extra 90
weeks of groceries, it is 7 months of mortgage payments or it is 179
tanks of gasoline--all at a time when women are participating in the
workforce at higher rates than ever before.
Surely, my friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle
realize this is not the time to be denying American families this extra
income they need to make ends meet. Surely, we should be guaranteeing
American women and their families the fairness they deserve. This
should not be a partisan issue. Throughout the history of the Senate,
we have joined together to root out discriminatory practices and
provide the protections American workers deserve. Today, as American
families struggle, it is time to make sure unfair practices are not
contributing to those struggles.
Today we have an opportunity to close loopholes in the system that
allows for pay discrimination, to create strong incentives for
employers to obey the laws that are in place, and to strengthen Federal
outreach and enforcement efforts on behalf of women.
Today we all have an opportunity to say the status quo is not good
enough. We have the opportunity to tell our daughters we are not going
to let another generation face a pay gap because we are unwilling to
stand and fight. We have the chance to improve our economy right now.
So to those of my colleagues who claim to be so concerned about the
economy and the struggles of the middle class, now is your chance to
prove to your constituents you mean what you say. Now is the chance to
provide nearly half of all Americans with the economic fairness they
deserve. Now is the time to guarantee American women equal pay for
equal work.
I yield the floor and yield back the remainder of our time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion to invoke
cloture.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the
[[Page S3714]]
Standing Rules of the Senate, hereby move to bring to a close
debate on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 410, S. 3220,
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.
Barbara A. Mikulski, Harry Reid, Maria Cantwell, Patty
Murray, Frank R. Lautenberg, Jeff Bingaman, Sheldon
Whitehouse, John F. Kerry, Kent Conrad, Jeanne Shaheen,
Bernard Sanders, Tom Udall, Amy Klobuchar, Carl Levin,
Mark R. Warner, Mark Pryor, Jack Reed, Kirsten E.
Gillibrand.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
motion to proceed to S. 3220, 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, shall be brought to a close? The yeas and nays are
mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 52, nays 47, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 115 Leg.]
YEAS--52
Akaka
Baucus
Begich
Bennet
Bingaman
Blumenthal
Boxer
Brown (OH)
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Conrad
Coons
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Hagan
Harkin
Inouye
Johnson (SD)
Kerry
Klobuchar
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Manchin
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (NE)
Nelson (FL)
Pryor
Reed
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--47
Alexander
Ayotte
Barrasso
Blunt
Boozman
Brown (MA)
Burr
Chambliss
Coats
Coburn
Cochran
Collins
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
DeMint
Enzi
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heller
Hoeven
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson (WI)
Kyl
Lee
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Reid
Risch
Roberts
Rubio
Sessions
Shelby
Snowe
Thune
Toomey
Vitter
Wicker
NOT VOTING--1
Kirk
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are
47. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted
in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
The majority leader.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by
which cloture was not invoked.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered.
Mr. REID. I now withdraw my motion to proceed to Calendar No. 410, S.
3220.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is withdrawn.
____________________