Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise as an enthusiastic supporter of the Murray amendment requiring the EEOC to implement the change recommended by President Obama that would add compensation data to its employment data form, and also to provide it with $1 million to be able to pay for its implementation. First, I would like to salute the Senator from Washington State, who has been a longstanding and assertive advocate of equal pay for equal work for women. I thank her for her ongoing, persistent advocacy. I so admire this amendment, which insists we develop even better tools to pinpoint those companies with over 100 employees in terms of their pay. The Senator from Washington State was right there when we passed the Lilly Ledbetter bill. She has been right there as we tried to move to the next step on the Paycheck Fairness Act, and now today she is here to implement the EEOC rule that would also help to do the kind of work we need to do to ensure that the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a major civil rights law which guaranteed equal pay for equal work, is enforced. We spent days talking about enforcement of civil rights laws. Let's enforce the law passed over 50 years ago to guarantee equal pay for equal work. Here is a quick history. The Lilly Ledbetter bill kept the courthouse door open for when people wanted to file wage discrimination based on gender claims. That courthouse door was slammed in the face of Lilly and other women who found out too late about what they were paid.…”