Political Quotes

“Mr. President, when the Senate rejected this legislation 20 months ago in a bipartisan vote it did so for the right reasons. The fact is, discriminatory pay practices are already illegal, and properly so. Congress has put two laws on the books to combat such discrimination--Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963. These are both good laws that have been well-utilized to combat discrimination where it exists, and I support full enforcement of those laws. When a female or male employee is being paid less simply because of gender it must be corrected and penalized. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC, employees received more than $150 million through successfully-resolved Title VII and EPA discrimination claims last year, the largest amount awarded in 15 years. I am confident that there is no member of this Senate who would tolerate paying a woman less for the same work simply because she is a woman. As husbands, fathers and mothers of working women, I believe we all recognize the gross inequity of discrimination in pay based on gender. But what the majority is trying to push through here today is of a very different nature. The so-called Paycheck Fairness Act is misnamed. It should actually be called a Profiteering Trial Lawyers Bonanza bill. The primary beneficiary of this legislation will be trial lawyers.…”