On the recordJune 5, 2012
I would like to respond to the majority leader. We want to fight too. We thank him for his vote and his voice. I want him to know that although we lost the vote today, we are not going to give up on this vote. It is a very sad day here in the Senate, but it is a sadder day every day when paycheck day comes and women continue to make less than men. We are sorry that this vote occurred strictly on party lines. Under the leader's effort to reconsider, we hope to bring up this bill again. We hope to forge a bipartisan vote. We are coming up on the 49th anniversary of equal pay for equal work. We are not going to let this bill die in parliamentary entanglements. The majority should rule in the Senate. I want to say this, in the words of Abigail Adams. While John Adams and all the guys were sitting around Philadelphia writing the Constitution, she wrote him a letter and said, ``Don't forget the ladies.'' And they did it for 150 years, and then they forget, too, to get rid of the loopholes in the Equal Pay Act now. Well, Abigail said: If you forget us, we will foment our revolution, and we are going to foment our revolution. So I say to the women here, to the good men who support us, to the women out there in America, let's keep this fight going. Put on your lipstick, square your shoulders, suit up, and let's fight for this new American revolution where women are paid equal pay for equal work. Let's end wage discrimination in this century once and for all.
