Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today the Senate is once again attempting to move forward with the Paycheck Fairness Act. This legislation would strengthen and modernize the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by providing new tools to combat gender-based wage discrimination. Among other things, this bill would require employers to demonstrate that wage differences between genders for comparable work are due to business decisions, and not gender. It also would prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who inquire about wage practices or share salary information with their colleagues. And it would strengthen penalties for equal pay violations. Closing the gender pay gap is always an important and worthwhile goal, but this is the case especially in the current tough economic climate where it is increasingly common for women to be the primary or even sole bread winner in a family. For example, in Michigan, over a third of families with dependent children rely on a working mother's salary for their primary income. This represents the families of over half a million children. And here is the important part--while the averages have varied, current figures indicate that women still only make 77 cents for every dollar made by their male counterparts. These are prolonged, tough, economic times, and there is no justifiable reason for the U.S.…”