[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2290-S2292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         PAYCHECK FAIRNESS ACT

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, this legislation on equal pay is about 
justice, in a word. We could almost say that equal pay equals justice. 
There is probably no simpler way to say it. It is really, when you 
consider what this means, a very simple concept: If a woman does the 
same job, the same work, does all of that in the same way a man does 
and is hired by a company, she should be paid the same wage.
  It seems so simple, so elementary, but unfortunately we have had more 
than one generation now where that has not been the case. Depending on 
what study or what year we are talking about, women make, on average, 
76 cents for every dollar a man makes, or 77 cents. It has always been 
in that band of similar numbers.
  I think for a lot of families it is disturbing. How do I tell, in my 
case, my four daughters to just do well in school and work hard, as 
they have, and get good grades, and once you are on a career path, you 
will be fairly compensated for your work because of all that hard work 
you did and the good work you do for an employer. What can I say if 
they come to me--I hope this never happens--10 or 20 years from now and 
say: You know, what you told me isn't true. I did well in school, I 
worked hard, I got hired and worked hard in the job I have had, and I 
am getting paid 76 cents for the $1 a man makes doing the same work in 
the same place at the same time. It makes no sense.
  So really, in essence, it is about whether we are going to be true to 
our words and true to the values of this country, and it is about 
giving people a fair shot on something as fundamental as the wages they 
are paid for their labor--to use an expression from the Bible, laboring 
in the vineyards; laboring at a job and being paid in a fair manner.
  There was a report not too long ago--not this year but a few years 
ago--that looked at a State-by-State weekly pay comparison. In that 
report, Pennsylvania women made, on average, $694 a week, while men in 
Pennsylvania were paid $849 a week--an 18.3-percent differential. But 
that is not the end of the story. It gets worse. For people 50 years 
and older, just looking at that age category, for women workers 50 
years and older in Pennsylvania at that time, just a few years ago, the 
differential was $732 and $984 for men--almost $250 a week above in 
that age category--and for all women at that time, about $150 of 
difference each and every week. Imagine what that does to someone's 
sense of achievement or sense of dignity when they know they are doing 
the same work every day and they are being underpaid over and over 
every week, every month, every year, and in some cases decade after 
decade. So when we say this is a matter of justice, in some ways that 
might be an understatement.
  We have a chance to remedy that, and it is very simple. Are we going 
to take steps to remedy that or are we going to reject the steps it 
will take to bring a measure of justice, a fair shot for women? They 
are not asking for anything that a man wouldn't ask for or demand. They 
are just asking for basic fairness--to be treated the same for the same 
work.
  I won't go into all the elements of the legislation, but some of them 
involve what happens in the event of a conflict--if a woman is 
discriminated against based upon her pay and she brings an action in a 
court, what will be the rules that govern that case. I think we should 
do everything possible to make sure that if an employer has a defense, 
they have to earn that defense, especially in this kind of litigation.
  One part of the legislation prohibits retaliation for employee 
complaints. In other words, if a woman is inquiring about or discussing 
or disclosing the wages of herself or some other employee, she is not 
retaliated against. It is hard to believe we have to legislate and make 
that the subject of debate. One would think that if a woman is working 
in a company for years and she is aggrieved and has a claim to make and 
is asked what the foundation of her claim is, her questions, her 
inquiries, her comparisons between and among different sets of data, 
what she makes, what a man who does the same work has been paid--that 
those basic questions should never, ever be the subject of retaliation 
by an employer, but too often they are. So we have to legislate. We 
have to specifically prohibit that kind of conduct by an employer, as 
maddening and as frustrating as that is.
  One would think that employers would want to make things right; that 
they would want to make sure that if a man is paid a buck for his work, 
a woman doing the same work is paid the same amount. She shouldn't have 
to ask. She shouldn't have to be worried about any kind of reprisal or 
retaliation or punishment. But the state of the law today is such that 
retaliation goes without sanction in the United States of America. It 
is very insulting to women and insulting to families.
  So there is lots we can do, but the most important thing we can do is 
to get a favorable vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act before us. I hope 
we get a bipartisan vote. This shouldn't be the subject of support of 
just one party. This should be bipartisan. The people who are asking 
for this help, who have been asking for it for decades, aren't members 
of just one party. They happen to represent one-half or more of the 
American people, when women have asked for that.
  If any of my colleagues think for whatever reason that this is not 
the right thing to do for today, they should do it for future 
generations. Do it for your own daughters, your own granddaughters, 
maybe your great-granddaughters. But to forgo the opportunity to do 
something about this at long last--President Kennedy signed the 
original legislation. A lot of people in the United States weren't even 
born then. Yet here we are still debating, still striving to get a 
basic measure of justice in place. So I do believe equal pay equals 
justice.


                         Afghanistan Elections

  Mr. President, I will turn to another subject this evening. I know we 
have to wrap up, and I am the last speaker of the evening, but this is 
a topic that doesn't get enough attention even though it was the 
subject of a lot of coverage and attention in the last couple of weeks 
and especially the last couple of days; that is, the elections in 
Afghanistan.
  Many people know that some of the reporting indicated that the 
results were good in terms of turnout. There are a lot of questions to 
review, but we don't know the results of the elections. It is, however, 
remarkable how the Afghan people turned out to choose their second 
democratically elected President. About 60 percent of the 12 million 
eligible voters defied Taliban threats to cast their votes. I am 
hopeful these elections are a step toward a smoother transfer of power 
later this year.
  By the way, that voter turnout number in terms of eligible voters is 
a little higher than we had in the United States of America in 2012. 
Secretary Kerry said last week that this election has been ``Afghan 
owned from the start.''
  The Afghan government security forces and civil society worked 
together to make these elections happen despite concerted efforts by 
the Taliban to sow fear and destroy democratic progress.
  The service of our men and women in uniform set the stage for this 
progress. U.S. training and mentoring helped the Afghan National 
Security Forces get to the point where it could secure polling centers 
and allow these elections to happen.
  We know in 2009 the international security forces bore the brunt of 
the election's security efforts, including, of course, American 
fighting men and women--our soldiers, at that time.
  The State Department, USAID, and NGOs also put a tremendous amount of 
work in supporting Afghan institutions

[[Page S2291]]

in this process of carrying out an election.
  The role Afghan women played in these elections is particularly 
remarkable. In the National Defense Authorization Act's amendment last 
year, I urged the administration to focus especially on ensuring there 
were enough female poll workers and security personnel to ensure all 
Afghan women who wanted to vote could do so safely and without fear of 
intimidation.
  Female voters turned out in numbers never seen before in Afghanistan, 
which speaks to their tremendous bravery and unwavering commitment to 
fighting for their rights as Afghan citizens. This is an incredible 
number. About one third of the 7 million voters, according to the 
reports, were women. Many women were voting for the first time. I don't 
have an enlargement, but this is a photograph which appeared a day 
after the election which depicts a line of 50 or more women standing in 
the rain under a plastic tarp waiting to vote.
  The American service men and women and, of course, taxpayers have 
made a tremendous investment in Afghanistan to make it the nascent 
democracy it is today. From harsh Taliban rule, Afghanistan is emerging 
as a fledgling democracy, with tremendous gains in education and health 
care.
  Just imagine. Girls who were literally at zero in their 
representation in schools a little more than a decade ago now 
constitute 42 percent of Afghan children enrolled in school. That 
didn't happen because of just some policy in effect. There was a lot of 
bravery and valor demonstrated by families and by young girls going to 
school under terrible threats--threats of death and intimidation. We 
all know about the terrible stories of young girls walking or riding to 
school and having acid thrown in their faces. Despite specific attacks 
on girls or young women, they keep going to school.
  It also happened because of the great sacrifice of our fighting men 
and women--those killed in action or wounded in action, tens of 
thousands of Americans. In Pennsylvania to date we have lost 91 
soldiers killed in action and almost 740 wounded in action.
  So all of these results--whether it is about democracy or whether it 
is about girls in school, women being able to vote, or a range of other 
metrics, health care and otherwise--came with tremendous sacrifice, the 
kind of sacrifice most of us don't really have a sense of. At least I 
don't.
  The results will be returned later this month on the election in 
Afghanistan. If a runoff is necessary, I hope all parties will work 
together to ensure the process is credible, transparent, and free from 
violence.
  Once President Karzai's successor is in place, the Afghan government 
and the Afghan people should move quickly to sign the bilateral 
security agreement and affirm the commitments the Afghan government has 
made to the international community and, by doing so, recognize the 
tremendous sacrifice of our fighting men and women and those of the 
coalition forces as well.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
an article about the election from the New York Times dated April 5, 
2014.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, Apr. 5, 2014]

           Afghan Turnout Is High as Voters Defy the Taliban

          (By Rod Nordland, Azam Ahmed and Matthew Rosenberg)

       Kabul, Afghanistan.--Defying a campaign of Taliban violence 
     that unleashed 39 suicide bombers in the two months before 
     Election Day, Afghan voters on Saturday turned out in such 
     high numbers to choose a new president and provincial 
     councils that polling hours were extended nationwide, in a 
     triumph of determination over intimidation.
       Militants failed to mount a single major attack anywhere in 
     Afghanistan by the time polls closed, and voters lined up 
     despite heavy rain and cold in the capital and elsewhere.
       ``Whenever there has been a new king or president, it has 
     been accompanied by death and violence,'' said Abdul Wakil 
     Amiri, a government official who turned out early to vote at 
     a Kabul mosque. ``For the first time, we are experiencing 
     democracy.''
       After 12 years with President Hamid Karzai in power, and 
     decades of upheaval, coup and war, Afghans on Saturday were 
     for the first time voting on a relatively open field of 
     candidates.
       Election officials said that by midday more than three and 
     a half million voters had turned out--already approaching the 
     total for the 2009 vote. The election commission chairman, 
     Mohammad Yusuf Nuristani, said the total could reach seven 
     million. ``The enemies of Afghanistan have been defeated,'' 
     he declared.
       But even as they celebrated the outpouring of votes, many 
     acknowledged the long process looming ahead, with the 
     potential for problems all along the way.
       International observers, many of whom had fled Afghanistan 
     after a wave of attacks on foreigners during the campaign, 
     cautioned that how those votes were tallied and reported 
     would bear close watching.
       It is likely to take at least a week before even incomplete 
     official results are announced, and weeks more to adjudicate 
     Election Day complaints. Some of the candidates were already 
     filing fraud complaints on Saturday.
       With eight candidates in the race, the five minor 
     candidates' shares of the vote made it even more difficult 
     for any one candidate to reach the 50 percent threshold that 
     would allow an outright victory. A runoff vote is unlikely to 
     take place until the end of May at the earliest.
       The leading candidates going into the vote were Ashraf 
     Ghani, 64, a technocrat and former official in Mr. Karzai's 
     government; Abdullah Abdullah, 53, a former foreign minister 
     who was the second biggest vote-getter against Mr. Karzai in 
     the 2009 election; and Zalmay Rassoul, 70, another former 
     foreign minister.
       Both Mr. Ghani and Mr. Abdullah praised the vote. ``A proud 
     day for a proud nation,'' Mr. Ghani said.
       Still, a shortage of ballots at polling places was 
     widespread across the country by midday Saturday, and some 
     voters were in line when polls closed.
       More worrisome, the threat of violence in many rural areas 
     had forced election authorities to close nearly 1,000 out of 
     a planned-for 7,500 polling places, raising fears that a big 
     chunk of the electorate would remain disenfranchised.
       But when it came to attacks on Election Day, the Taliban's 
     threats seemed to be greatly overstated. Only one suicide 
     bombing attempt could be confirmed--in Khost--and the bomber 
     managed to kill only himself when the police stopped him 
     outside a polling place.
       In three scattered attacks on polling places, four voters 
     were reported killed. Two rockets fired randomly into the 
     city of Jalalabad wounded eight civilians. One border 
     policeman, in southern Kandahar Province, and another 
     policeman in remote western Farah Province were confirmed 
     killed in Taliban attacks, according to preliminary reports.
       Bad as all that was, it was a lower casualty toll than on a 
     normal day in Afghanistan, let alone an election on which 
     both the insurgents and the government had staked their 
     credibility. Interior Minister Umar Daudzai said there were 
     140 attacks nationwide on Saturday, compared with 500 attacks 
     recorded by the American military in 2009.
       In preparation for the election, the Afghan government 
     mobilized its entire military and police forces, some 350,000 
     in all, backed up by 53,000 NATO coalition troops--although 
     the Americans and their allies stayed out of it, leaving 
     Afghans for the first time entirely in charge of securing 
     their own election.
       ``Voting on this day will be a slap in the faces of the 
     terrorists,'' said Rahmatullah Nabil, the acting head of the 
     National Directorate of Security, the Afghan domestic 
     intelligence agency.
       Sensitive to concerns about potential fraud--more than a 
     million ballots were thrown out in the 2009 presidential vote 
     and then again in the 2010 parliamentary elections--the 
     police were quick to report their efforts to crack down on 
     Saturday.
       Among those arrested were four people in Khost who were 
     caught with 1,067 voter registration cards. Several people, 
     including an election official, were caught trying to stuff 
     ballot boxes in Wardak Province.
       ``This has been the best and most incident-free election in 
     Afghanistan's modern history and it could set the precedent 
     for a historic, peaceful transition of power in 
     Afghanistan,'' said Mohammad Fahim Sadeq, head of the 
     Afghanistan National Participation Organization, an observer 
     group.
       In many places where voting was nearly impossible in 2009, 
     the turnout was reported to be strong. One was Panjwai 
     district, a once-violent haven of the Taliban just outside 
     Kandahar City, where hundreds lined up to vote. ``I left 
     everything behind, my fears and my work, and came to use my 
     vote,'' said Hajji Mahbob, 60, a farmer. ``I want change and 
     a good government and I am asking the man I am going to elect 
     as the next president to bring an end to the suffering of 
     this war.''
       Even where the Taliban did manage to strike, voters still 
     turned out afterward. A bomb set off at a polling place in 
     the Mohammad Agha district of Logar Province killed two 
     voters and wounded two others, according to the district 
     governor, Abdul Hamid. ``The explosion dispersed the voters 
     who were holding their voting cards and waiting to vote,'' 
     said Zalmai Stanakzai, a car repair shop owner who was there. 
     ``Some of us left, the others stayed. I was concerned about 
     our safety, but we considered voting our duty.''
       Insurgents set off a series of five blasts in the Shomali 
     plain, just north of Kabul city,

[[Page S2292]]

     in the village of Qarabagh. ``After the explosions, the 
     polling stations reopened and people rushed to vote,'' said 
     Mohasmmad Sangar, 32, a used-car salesman there. ``It was a 
     great day today.''
       Nicholas Haysom, the United Nations' top election official 
     here, said: ``We know that the Taliban have made a very 
     explicit and express threat to disrupt it. The failure to 
     disrupt the elections will mean that they will have egg on 
     their face after the elections.''
       While there were reports of disrupted voting in troubled 
     places like Logar Province and neighboring Wardak, in Helmand 
     Province in the south and Nangarhar Province in the east, at 
     the same time voters were showing up in unexpectedly high 
     numbers in other places, like Zabul, Uruzgan and Kandahar 
     Provinces in the south, and Kunar Province in the northeast, 
     despite strong insurgent presences in those areas.
       In Uruzgan, election authorities had to open additional 
     polling places to accommodate unexpected numbers, while in 
     Daikundi they ran out of ballots in some remote districts and 
     election authorities had to race new ones out to them. In 
     northern Mazar-i-Sharif, voters were still lined up after 
     dark.
       Underwritten by $100 million from the United Nations and 
     foreign donors, the election was a huge enterprise, 
     stretching across extremely forbidding terrain. Some 3,200 
     donkeys were pressed into service to deliver ballots to 
     remote mountain villages, along with battalions of trucks and 
     minibuses to 6,500 polling places in all. The American 
     military pitched in with air transport of ballots to four 
     regional distribution centers, and to two difficult-to-reach 
     provinces.
       Though many international observers left Afghanistan in the 
     wake of attacks on foreigners, or found themselves confined 
     to quarters in Kabul, years of expensive preparations and 
     training of an army of some 70,000 Afghan election observers 
     were expected to compensate, according to Western diplomats 
     and Afghan election officials. ``We have so many controls 
     now, it's going to be much safer this time,'' said Noor Ahmad 
     Noor, the spokesman for the Independent Election Commission.
       The American ambassador, James B. Cunningham, called the 
     elections a ``really historic opportunity for the people of 
     Afghanistan to move forward with something we've been trying 
     to create together with them for several years now.''
       Still up in the air is the question of whether an American 
     troop force will remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Mr. 
     Karzai's refusal to sign a long-term security deal to allow 
     that presence was a major point of tension between the 
     American and Afghan governments. Each of the leading 
     candidates has agreed to sign the deal once in office, though 
     inauguration day may not take place until well into the year.
       The election on Saturday was notable also for how many 
     Afghan women were taking part. More female candidates than 
     ever before are on provincial ballots, and two are running 
     for vice president, the first time a woman was ever put up 
     for national office here, which has generated a great deal of 
     enthusiasm, especially in urban areas.
       At the women's polling station in the Nadaria High School, 
     in Kabul's Qala-e-Fatullah neighborhood, among those lining 
     up to vote was a young mother, Parwash Naseri, 21. Although 
     wearing the blue burqa that is traditional here, she was 
     still willing to speak out through the privacy mesh covering 
     her face.
       She was voting, for the first time, for her children and 
     for women's rights, she said, speaking in a whisper. ``I 
     believe in the right of women to take part just as men do, to 
     get themselves educated and to work.''

  Mr. CASEY. I wish to highlight two quotes. The first is from a 21-
year-old woman who is voting for the first time in this election:

       She was voting, for the first time, for her children and 
     for women's rights, she said, speaking in a whisper. ``I 
     believe in the right of women to take part just as men do, to 
     get themselves educated and to work.''

  A remarkable inspiration from a 21-year-old woman voting for the 
first time in Afghanistan.
  The second quotation is from a 60-year-old farmer who was asked by a 
reporter what it was like to vote under the threats that were either 
proximate--meaning something happening in almost real time or in the 
recent past--or just the overall threat posed by the Taliban and other 
extremists. This farmer said:

       I left everything behind, my fears and my work, and came to 
     use my vote. I want a change and a good government . . .

  He goes on from there to describe what he hopes will happen. But just 
imagine that. He said:

       I left everything behind, my fears and my work, and came to 
     use my vote.

  When I read that, I thought about something Thomas Jefferson said in 
a letter to John Adams when he was an older man. He was describing the 
fear of old age--not the kind of fear of reprisal if you were voting 
but the fear of growing old. He talked about how he dealt with the fear 
of growing old in nautical terms. He said: ``I steer my bark with hope 
in the head, leaving fear astern.'' That is all I thought about when I 
heard what the 60-year-old farmer said; that even though he had fears--
the fear of death, the fear of reprisal against him, his family or 
people in his neighborhood--he was willing to say his right to vote was 
so important he was willing to leave those fears and his work behind so 
he could vote.
  What a tremendous inspiration on a subject--the conflict in 
Afghanistan and all which comes from it that often is not the subject 
of positive commentary or inspiration. For once and all too 
infrequently, this is one of those occasions where we can be positive 
about a result.
  We have more work to do to make sure the bilateral security agreement 
is signed, but we should draw some measure of inspiration from what 
happened in Afghanistan and the progress which has been made there.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________