Paycheck Fairness Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Madam President, I would like to take a few minutes to speak on the bill being considered today, the Paycheck Fairness Act. The proponents of the Paycheck Fairness Act argue that many women continue to earn significantly less pay than men for equal work. I am afraid the effort to consider this bill is nothing more than election-year politics aimed at scoring political points.

Equally unfortunate, the bill will do nothing to address our Nation's anemic economic growth. It will not create a single job for the more than 10 million unemployed Americans. This bill does nothing for the millions of Americans who have become so discouraged with this economy that they have completely given up on looking for work. This political show-vote will not help the millions of women who have lost their jobs or who are now living in poverty as a result of the Obama economy.

Let me be clear: I strongly support equal pay for equal work. I support equal employment opportunities. I abhor discrimination of any kind. Discrimination in the workplace is unacceptable, and must not be tolerated. Workers have been protected against sex-based pay discrimination since the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides additional protections and remedies for discrimination.

Many have concerns that the Paycheck Fairness Act would undermine a business's defense even when the pay disparity is legitimate. The bill would allow unlimited punitive and compensatory damages, while also automatically including employees in a class-action lawsuit unless they specifically choose to opt out. This bill would be a boon to trial lawyers at the expense of job creators and job seekers.

A Washington Post Editorial from September 28, 2010, stated, "the proposal, which builds on the existing Equal Pay Act, would allow employees and courts to intrude too far into core business decisions.'' It further stated, "Discrimination is abhorrent, but the Paycheck Fairness Act is not the right fix.''

Rather than consider a politically motivated measure, we should be working together to create good-paying jobs and grow the economy. Instead, the Democratic leadership has chosen to disregard the welfare of struggling Americans and pursue messaging bills. If the majority in the Senate truly cared about helping the middle class, they would allow consideration of Republican amendments that would actually help workers, help the unemployed find work, and grow the economy.

But just like consideration of the unemployment insurance extension bill, the Senate majority has no interest in considering amendments that would actually grow the economy and create jobs. During consideration of that bill, Republicans offered a job-creating amendment that would have repealed provisions of ObamaCare that are proven job killers. It would have spurred job creation through energy development, including authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. It would have provided small businesses, who are responsible for creating 70 percent of jobs in our economy, with permanent tax relief aimed at incentivizing new investments. A version of this amendment has been filed to this bill. Unfortunately, the majority leader is again blocking consideration of any amendments.

While the majority leader pushes ahead with his political agenda, Republicans continue to propose measures that will create jobs and grow the economy. Senator McConnell and Senator Ayotte have put forward an amendment to allow voluntary flexible workplace arrangements such as compensatory time and flexible credit hour agreements for hourly workers. This amendment would provide much needed flexibility for working moms, but was immediately blocked by the majority leader. Why would the majority leader block consideration of such a reasonable proposal?

Senator Alexander has also proposed an amendment that seeks to provide working parents more flexibility in the workplace. Senator Rubio has proposed an amendment to allow employees to seek fair wage increases and remove obstacles for employees to earn merit-based pay raises. In addition, Senators FISCHER, COLLINS and AYOTTE have filed an amendment to reaffirm existing laws prohibiting pay discrimination and would prohibit retaliation against employees who inquire about, discuss or disclose their salaries.

Sadly, none of these reasonable, thoughtful amendments to address job creation and workplace flexibility will be considered because the majority leader has already signaled that this debate is not about legislating. It's about political messaging. For these reasons, I must vote against the procedural motion to proceed.

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