Political Quotes

“I thank the Chair. Mr. President, I rise in strong support of the Paycheck Fairness Act. I would like to first commend the senior Senator from Maryland for her fearless and tireless leadership on this issue. She has been a protean force when it comes to this issue and many others. I deeply admire and respect her. This week I held my annual roundtable with the Women's Fund in Providence. We talked about equal rights, equal pay, and economic opportunity and justice with women who are creating jobs and fighting inequality everyday. Today, as my colleagues have pointed out, we mark Equal Pay Day. Women would have to work until April 8 of this year just to earn what men did as of December 31 of last year. Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act will move us one step closer to being able to commemorate Equal Pay Day on December 31 each year for both men and women, and that is what we should be striving for. This year we are marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and the war on poverty. We have come a long way, but our efforts to form a more perfect, more equal union must continue forward. When President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law in 1963, women were earning an average of 59 cents on the dollar compared to men. No matter how you slice it, median annual earnings, weekly earnings, by level of education or occupation, there is still a gender gap in pay today.…”