On the recordMay 31, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Hastings for his leadership and for yielding, and also to Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro for her relentless leadership on the Paycheck Fairness Act and also as the ranking member of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. I rise to support the Paycheck Fairness Act. It's totally unacceptable that in 2012 women continue to be blatantly discriminated against in the workplace in terms of equal pay for equal work. This is just downright wrong. It contributes to the economic insecurity of women, also of children and of men. In 2011, African American women earned 62 cents to every dollar earned by white males, and for Latinas, it was 62 cents per dollar. This discrimination against women of color and all women must end. Now it's been nearly 50 years since the passage of the Equal Pay Act, but at the rate we're going, if we continue to do nothing, women will not have pay equity until the year 2056. So we need a comprehensive solution to this historical and systemic discriminatory practice, and that is what Congresswoman DeLauro has introduced. So I urge consideration and passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Women deserve economic justice.
