Political Quotes

“let me first thank Senator Baldwin for her comments. I agree with her statement, and I am also grateful for the leadership of the senior Senator from Maryland and the leadership Senator Mikulski has shown on gender issues. The paycheck fairness legislation is just a recent example of her extraordinary leadership throughout her career on gender equity issues. I particularly wanted to be here not only to say how proud I am of Senator Mikulski but also to state that the Paycheck Fairness Act is not about women. It is about families, about our economy, and about fairness. It is about American values. It affects everyone in America. We all should be personally engaged in making sure paycheck fairness becomes law. To this Senator, it is outrageous that a woman has to work 5 days at the same work that a man works in 4 days for the same pay. That is inherently unfair and needs to be corrected. The Paycheck Fairness Act would do that. I note that today is Equal Pay Day, which basically reflects how long a woman has to work--basically without getting a paycheck--in order to get paid for the same amount of work as a man does in a year. As the Presiding Officer knows, as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this Senator has the privilege of being the ranking member on the committee. One thing we look at is how other countries deal with basic rights. One of those rights is how they treat their women.…”