[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4068]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TODAY WE MARK EQUAL PAY DAY

  (Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, today we mark Equal Pay Day, the day when 
women's wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous 
year.
  Mr. Speaker, it is unconscionable that in the United States today, 
women earn on average 79 cents for every dollar that a man makes. For 
women of color, this gap is even wider, 61 cents for African American 
women and 55 cents for Latinas.
  This pay gap is harming working families in every State, particularly 
harmful to the two-thirds of families where women are the primary 
breadwinners. Lower paychecks mean less money for groceries, less money 
for rent, less money for child care or other necessities. Mr. Speaker, 
this has to change.
  I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, 
which would make it easier for women to win pay discrimination cases 
and harder for companies to justify unequal salaries. I urge Republican 
leaders to bring this bill to the floor for a vote.

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