María Elvira Salazar: “I wish today to strongly support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would clarify the laws against pay…”

“I wish today to strongly support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would clarify the laws against pay discrimination. I would like to thank Senator Kennedy, chairman of the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee, for his leadership on the bill. He has been a tireless champion for civil rights and I applaud his work. Mr. President, we as Americans are bound by a powerful idea--a revolutionary idea--that our nation is a work in progress. It is an idea etched in the words of the Constitution: ``to form a more perfect union.'' It is an idea that has inspired some of our Nation's greatest achievements--abolishing slavery, banning segregation, and expanding voting rights. It is an idea that brings the best out of our public service. This week in the Senate we have an opportunity to take another important step along our path of progress--to make our union more perfect. It is no secret that pay gaps exist in our country. Gender, race, national origin, age, disability, or religion should not have any effect on a worker's pay. But, sadly, they do. Nationally, women earn 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. In Colorado, women earn 79 cents for every dollar that men earn. The inequities are even clearer when you break the numbers in Colorado down by ethnicity. On average, African-American women earn 61.2 percent of what White men earn.”