[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4349]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             EQUAL PAY DAY

  (Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission 
to address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this week, we 
recognize Equal Pay Day--a somber reminder of the intolerably wide wage 
gulf that still exists between men and women. This is not just a 
``woman's issue.'' It affects every working family throughout our 
economy from top to bottom.
  The average woman in America today makes 79 cents for every dollar a 
man makes--even less for women of color. That disparity, when spread 
across the course of a woman's working life, can deprive her and her 
family of over $430,000, which is nearly $11,000 annually. Nobody can 
afford such dispossession, especially families who are already 
struggling to survive.
  The gender pay gap will not fix itself without there being immediate 
congressional action. We already have a bill that is designed to right 
this wrong--the Paycheck Fairness Act--which is cosponsored by every 
single House Democrat.
  Mr. Speaker, I implore my colleagues to enact it so that all American 
women can at least know they are worth equal pay for equal work.

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