Paycheck Fairness Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I would like to start by thanking Senator Mikulski for organizing us today and much more importantly for her leadership over the years on this issue. We are so proud to have her as our dean.

I come to the floor today on Equal Pay Day to stand and speak about an issue that impacts women and families in every State across this country. Today I rise to give voice to the belief that we need to be working together across party aisles to build an America where hard work is rewarded and where there is a fair shot for everyone to realize their pursuits and dreams.

In America today the growing gap between rich and everyone else is at its largest point in 100 years. The absence of upward mobility for hard-working families demands action because if we cannot close this gap we might someday talk about the middle class as something we used to have, not something that each generation can aspire to.

As I have traveled through my home State of Wisconsin, they have told me that the powerful and well connected seem to get to write their own rules while the concerns and struggles of middle-class families often go unnoticed here in Washington. They feel as if our economic system is tilted towards those at the top and that our political system exists to protect unfair advantages, instead of making sure that everybody gets a fair shot.

I rise to give voice to the fact that there is paycheck inequality for hard-working American women across this country and that it is time we do something about it. Working women make up over 50 percent of our workforce, and they are working harder than ever to get ahead. And they deserve to get ahead. Many are working full time, and many are working two jobs to make ends meet. Yet far too many are barely getting by, and far too many women and children are living in poverty. The least we can do is level the playing field and give women a fair shot at getting ahead because they deserve equal pay for equal work. It is simply unfair that women are paid on average 77 cents for every dollar paid to a man. This reality is holding women back, and it is holding our entire economy back.

I am proud to join my colleagues today to deliver a call for action to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and give women equal pay for equal work. This legislation will help close the paycheck gap for women, it will help create upward mobility for women, and it will help strengthen the economic security of millions of families across our country.

Let me take the time to tell you just one story of one woman. Shannon is a single mother of three from Two Rivers, WI. Shannon is working hard to support her family, but the pay gap is holding her back. Shannon has continued her education to advance her career as an interpreter in a school, but she faces the grim reality that women teachers are often paid less than their male counterparts.

In fact--and this is so hard to believe--statistics collected by our Department of Labor make it clear that women earn less than men in almost all occupations commonly held by women. Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act will help close the pay gap and provide Shannon and so many others with financial freedom for their families.

It would help Shannon manage issues that working moms face every single day--unexpected car problems, children outgrowing their pants and shoes, the anxiety of not being able to save a little bit from their paycheck to someday send their children to college. To put this in the simplest terms possible, it would give Shannon a fair shot at passing on a stronger future for her children.

Today women working full time in Wisconsin go home with $10,324 less a year than their male counterparts. In Wisconsin, 31 percent of households headed by working women have incomes that fall below the poverty level. This is simply wrong, and it is our job to work together to change that. Millions of American women get up everyday to work hard for that middle-class dream: a good job that pays the bills, health care coverage you can rely on, a home you can call your own, a chance to save for your kids' college education, and a secure retirement. But instead, gender discrimination is holding women and their families back. Eliminating the pay gap will make families more secure.

Nearly 60 percent of women would earn more if women were paid the same as men of the same experience with similar education and hours of work. The poverty rate for women would be cut in half. It is wrong for us to ignore the gap between the economic security that American women work so hard to achieve and the economic uncertainty that they are asked to settle for. With a record number of women in the workforce today, the right thing to do is to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and empower women with a fair shot at equal pay.

I urge my colleagues to join me in working to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act because it would strengthen families and our economy by providing working women with the tools they need to close the gender pay gap. It will show the American people our commitment to working together to provide a fair shot for everyone.

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