Political Quotes

“Mr. President, later this afternoon, the U.S. women's soccer team will begin its quest for another World Cup title with its opening match against Thailand. As the entire Nation cheers them on as they take the field, I want to shine a light today on an issue the women's national team has been fighting for off the field: pay equity. The women make just as much of a sacrifice, put in just as much mental and physical energy, absorb just as much risk of injury as the men who play for the national team. Yet when you break it down, a women's national soccer team player earns a base salary of $3,600 per game while a men's player earns $5,000. Over the course of a season, if both the men's and women's teams have the same record, a male player could earn $30,000 more than his female counterpart. Female soccer players who earn the privilege of representing their country on the world stage get a much smaller bonus, $15,000, than male soccer players who earn the same privilege, $55,000. When a woman's national team wins a World Cup, something the U.S. women have done three times--with some New York State players helping--it wins a percentage of what a men's team gets if it wins at all, something the U.S. men have never done. For the sake of comparison, U.S. soccer awarded the men's national team a $5.4 million performance bonus for losing in the round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup. It awarded the women $1.7 million for winning the World Cup. Let me repeat that so you get the contrast.…”