[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 52 (Monday, April 13, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  COMMEMORATING EQUAL PAY DAY AND EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE PAYCHECK 
                              FAIRNESS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 13, 2015

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Equal Pay 
Day, a day in which President John F. Kennedy, on June 10th, 1963, 
proposed the simple principle that women deserve equal pay for equal 
work.
  The symbolism of this day is expressed in that, as we are more than 
three months into the year, women's wages are only now beginning to 
catch up to what men were paid the previous year.
  Today, women on average make 78 cents for every dollar earned by men, 
amounting to an annual disparity of more than $10,876 dollars between 
full-time working men and women.
  It is important to understand what 78 cents to ever dollar means to a 
family: $10,876 could purchase 86 more weeks of food; $10,876 could 
afford more than 3,200 additional gallons of gasoline; $10,876 could 
support families in incredible ways, and yet, even today, $10,876 
annually is exactly what women currently do without simply because of 
being women.
  For African American women and Latina women, the wage gap is even 
higher. African American women on average earn only 64 cents, while 
Latina women earn 54 cents to every dollar earned by white, non-
Hispanic men.
  In my home state of Texas, however, the average wage gap for African 
American women is 59 cents to the dollar. For Latina women, it is an 
abysmal 45 cents to the dollar.
  This is why I support H.R. 1619, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which 
addresses loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act.
  H.R. 1619 would protect employees who voluntarily share their own 
salary information at work from retaliation by an employer and remove 
obstacles in the Equal Pay Act to facilitate plaintiffs' participation 
in class action lawsuits that challenge discrimination.
  H.R. 1619 would also better align key Equal Pay Act defenses with 
those in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, requiring employers to 
prove that pay disparities exist for legitimate, job-related reasons.
  On this Equal Pay Day, I call upon House Republicans, all of whom 
have so far refused to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act, to answer 
this simple question: why are you opposed to woman earning the same 
amount as men?
  I ask House Republicans to stop wasting the time of this Congress 
with attempts to defund the Department of Homeland Security and focus 
your energies on legislation that would actually help the American 
people.
  Let us call this opposition to the Paycheck Fairness Act, and 
opposition to all acts of Congress dating back to the 1960's that have 
attempted to ameliorate the glaring disparities in wages between women 
and men, for what it is: deliberately and blatantly sexist.
  I ask all my colleagues to come help make the Paycheck Fairness Act a 
reality.
  We should remember: equal pay is not simply a women's issue--it is a 
family issue.
  It is time now to update antiquated pay equality laws and to 
eliminate the wage gap entirely between men and women.
  It is time for equal pay for equal work.

                          ____________________