Amy Klobuchar: “I rise to speak about the importance of closing the pay gap for women. I am a cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act--an…”

“I rise to speak about the importance of closing the pay gap for women. I am a cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act--an important bill--and I am so honored to be here with my colleagues and the leader of the women in the Senate, Senator Mikulski. Today is Equal Pay Day, but it also marks the week where things are finally warming up in my State after a long deep-freeze. We look as though we are going to have 70 degrees. The snow will melt, the flowers will bloom, and the message we are all here to bring is it is time to stop freezing the women of America out of this economy. The women of America want to be treated fairly. Now all the work we are doing--whether it is the minimum wage bill or the unemployment compensation--is stuck somewhere in a deep freezer over in the House of Representatives, somewhere between the frozen peas and the chocolate ice cream, and it is time to thaw out the freezer in Washington, DC, and help the women of America. That is what this bill is about, that is what the minimum wage bill is about. People deserve a fair shot at the American dream. I thank again Senator Mikulski and I thank her for her leadership in the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. In 2009 we passed that bill to make sure that workers who face pay discrimination based on gender, race, age, religion, disability, or national origin have access to the courts. In doing so, we restored the original intent of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Pay Act.…”