[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 14, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN RECOGNITION OF EQUAL PAY DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 14, 2015

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I am so tired of coming down here to the floor 
each and every year and marking the day that women's pay finally 
catches up to that of a man's! Equal Pay Day is not a bittersweet 
occasion--it is simply a bitter reminder of the worth that this country 
places on the work of women. It is quite simply unfathomable! Today is 
a glaring reminder of the hard work that still needs to be done in 
order to achieve gender parity in pay.
   Women are half the population! How has this inequity been allowed to 
stand for so long? When President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into 
law in 1963, women on average made 59 cents for every dollar earned by 
men. It has been 51 years since the Equal Pay Act was signed into law, 
and yet women still earn on average only 77 cents for every dollar 
earned by men, amounting to a yearly gap of $11,607 between full-time 
working men and women. We've made some progress--but it's not even 
close to being enough.
   Equal pay is not simply a women's issue--it is a family issue. 
Families increasingly rely on women's wages to make ends meet, and with 
less take-home pay women have less money for the everyday needs of 
their families.
   According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, in 
California, women in are paid 84 cents for every dollar paid to men, 
amounting to an annual wage gap of $8,183 between men and women who 
work full time in the state. In addition, Californian women who are 
employed full time lose a combined total of approximately 
$37,658,902,470 every year due to the wage gap. Let me say that again: 
That's almost $38 BILLION each year!
   The sad reality is that the pay gap is not simply an education issue 
either. Nationally, women with master's degrees that work full time are 
paid just 70 cents for every dollar paid to men with master's degrees. 
Further, women with doctoral degrees are paid less than men with 
master's degrees, and women with master's degrees are paid less than 
men with bachelor's degrees.
   Mr. Speaker, that is why the Paycheck Fairness Act is so critical. I 
am so proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill. It will close 
loopholes and strengthen the Equal Pay Act, which hasn't been updated 
in 52 years. The bill has 189 cosponsors so far. And once again this 
year NOT ONE is a Republican! What possible reasons are there to be 
against equal pay for equal work? This issue does not only affect 
Democrats. It affects all hard-working American women and families--
regardless of their political party. Does the Majority simply not care 
about this problem, or is it yet another continuation of the War on 
Women that they continue to deny year after year?

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