[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6718-6719]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          FAIR AND EQUAL WAGES

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, last Sunday, I joined millions of people

[[Page 6719]]

across the country to celebrate the mothers in our lives--in mine, my 
wife Marcelle, my daughter, friends, and other family members. Mother's 
Day is an important reminder of just how essential these inspirational 
women are to their families, their friends, and their communities.
  Mothers--and all women--are also essential to the fabric of our 
economy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just four decades 
ago, fewer than half of mothers were in the American work force. Today, 
70 percent of mothers are working outside the home, and one-third of 
working mothers are the sole wage earners in their households. More 
than 30 percent of Vermont families rely on working moms as the 
exclusive wage earners in their homes.
  The numbers are staggering. Yet working moms still fall behind in 
equal and fair pay. The Joint Economic Committee of Congress recently 
released a report showing that working mothers earn 3 percent less than 
women without children, while fathers earn 15 percent more than men 
without children. Working moms also face the potential of missing 
scheduled wage increases or bonuses, if they take time away from the 
workforce to care for a child.
  Vermont has been a national leader in leveling the playing field for 
working moms. In 2002 the Green Mountain State enacted its own Equal 
Pay Act, making it illegal for employers to offer anything less than 
equal pay for equal work. The Federal Government has fallen behind, and 
it is far past time for Congress to approve the Paycheck Fairness Act. 
This legislation, authored by one of the trailblazers in the Senate, 
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), builds on efforts that date back more 
than 50 years to ensure a balanced and equal playing field in the 
workplace for women.
  Of course, equal wages are not fair wages if they are not livable 
wages. According to the Joint Economic Committee, working mothers in 
families in the bottom 20 percent of households contribute an 
astounding 86 percent to their families' income. In an overwhelming 
majority of cases, these families are supported solely by a mother. 
That is just one of the many reasons we need to ensure that wages are 
not just equal and fair, but also livable. Two weeks ago I joined with 
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and 31 other Democratic Senators to propose 
legislation to raise the minimum wage. The Raise the Wage Act will 
provide a staggered increase in the Federal minimum wage, from $7.25 to 
$12.00 by the year 2020. It is the right thing to do, and it is the 
fair thing to do, for working mothers, for our families, and for our 
Nation's economy as a whole.
  Mother's Day is always an opportunity to show the moms in our lives 
just how valued they are. It is past time for Congress to do the same, 
and to act on commonsense bills like the Paycheck Fairness Act and the 
Raise the Wage Act.

                          ____________________