Political Quotes

“I am the leadoff speaker. I want to be very clear on why we are on the Senate floor. We believe women need a fair shot to get equal pay for equal work. We want the same pay for the same job. We want it in our lawbooks, and we want it in our checkbooks. We want to finish the job we began with Lilly Ledbetter 5 years ago. Five years ago, one of the first bills that we passed in the Obama administration was the Lilly Ledbetter bill. We reopened the courthouse doors to women who wanted to seek redress for the way they were treated unequally in the workplace. But we need to finish the job. That is what paycheck fairness does. What does ``finish the job'' mean? Well, right now in the United States of America, there is a veil of secrecy--a veil of secrecy. Where is it? In the workplace. Right now, in companies and businesses, employees are forbidden to talk about the pay they receive with another employee. In many places, when an employee seeks redress, she is retaliated against. Last but not at all least, there are loopholes that many employers use to justify women being paid less. They invent excuses, and they call them business necessity explanations. Well, we are on the floor today to say we want to end the soft bigotry of low wages for women. Equal pay for equal work. No secrecy. No retaliation. No loopholes. No way. Today is the day for equal pay. We are on the floor today because it is Equal Pay Day. What does that mean?…”