[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5247]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING EQUAL PAY DAY

  (Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in honor of Equal 
Pay Day, which is tomorrow.
  Women in our country earn, on average, 78 cents for every dollar that 
a man makes. For women of color, that gap is larger. Even in my own 
district, the Eighth Congressional District of Illinois, where the 
overall disparity is smaller, women still only earn 83 cents on the 
dollar.
  The pay gap is not simply a women's issue, but a challenge for all 
Americans. Gender wage disparities are a fundamental obstacle to 
millions of families trying to make ends meet.
  At a time when nearly two-thirds of mothers are primary, sole, or co-
breadwinners for their families, the pay gap makes it that much harder 
to pay for groceries, housing, child care, and all the other 
necessities of daily life.
  I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act 
and hope all my colleagues will join me in supporting this bill to 
address pay discrimination.

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