[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4826]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             EQUAL PAY DAY

  (Ms. LEE of California asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, today we rise in support of Equal 
Pay Day.
  Equal Pay Day symbolizes when more than 3 months into the year 
women's wages finally catch up with what men were paid in the previous 
year.
  It's unconscionable that women today continue to be blatantly 
discriminated against in the workforce in terms of their pay and the 
treatment that they receive.
  In 2011, women working full time made only 77 cents to every dollar 
made by men over the course of a year. The landscape is even worse for 
women of color. In 2011, African American women earned 64 cents to 
every dollar earned by white males, and for Latinas it was only 55 
cents and 42 cents in my home State of California. On average, the wage 
gap costs women roughly $11,000 annually, and at this rate the wage gap 
will not close until 2057. Can you imagine that, 2057?
  We must support Congresswoman DeLauro's Paycheck Fairness Act. This 
addresses the serious economic disparities which women still face.
  Women and their families cannot afford to continue paying the cost of 
our inaction in the face of injustice. I hope the Speaker will bring 
this bill to the floor right away.

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