![]() But former Senate HELP Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) objected to the request, stalling the bill. After the House first passed the bill in 2019, Murray attempted to bring it to the Senate floor that April by asking unanimous consent. This isn’t Democrats’ first unsuccessful bid to get the legislation through the upper chamber. “When something as simple as ‘equal pay for equal work’ cannot break through Republican obstruction, it is obvious something needs to change,” he added. Senate is no longer a functioning legislative body.” “Senate Republicans’ decision to block the Paycheck Fairness Act is an insult to the millions of women who are doing the same job as their male counterparts for lower pay,” House Education and Labor Chair Bobby Scott (D-Va.) said. Everybody knows that.”ĭemocrats are seizing on the failed vote as kindling for their push to eliminate the filibuster. If you can’t find consensus on these issues, these aren’t going anyplace. We’re going to have lots of opportunities over the next couple of years to find consensus on different ideas. ![]() ![]() “In my state, we’re a right-to-work state. “At this stage of the game, it is a no,” Sen. The bill doesn’t have a single GOP sponsor in the Senate. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), voted in its favor. The House passed the legislation 217-210 in April. “Any senator who agrees that women deserve to be paid fairly, for the work they do and who wants our families in our economy to fully recover from the economic harm of this pandemic should for this legislation.” “This should not be a partisan bill,” she added. “The economic crisis that we are starting to come out of due to the pandemic has really hurt working women, especially women of color, and will really help women today as they try to recover from this pandemic, get back in the workforce and make sure that they are getting equal pay,” Murray said. As recently as February, women’s labor force participation rate was 56 percent - the same as it was in 1987, according to the Labor Department. The pandemic has exacerbated the disparity, with women disproportionately impacted by layoffs, school closures and a child care shortage. That gap widens dramatically by race: Black and Latina women holding a bachelor’s degree take home 65 percent of what white men with the same level of education do. Women’s annual earnings were 82 percent of their male counterparts’ in 2020, according to the Labor Department. The bill would be “exploiting the cause of pay fairness to send a windfall to trial lawyers,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday. They also worry the language could open up businesses to frivolous lawsuits. “We have three statutes on the books that don’t allow pay discrepancy today. Richard Burr (N.C.), the top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, told POLITICO. ![]() Gender pay discrimination is already illegal, they point out. Most GOP lawmakers oppose the measure, which they say is redundant and a burden on employers. The bill, voted down 49-50, would have required 60 votes to advance. “So if we want our economy to grow, we need to pay women what they’re worth.” “We’re hearing about how women are not returning to the market right now because of a number of reasons, including that they just aren’t getting paid enough to pay for child care and the other challenges they have,” Senate HELP Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the bill’s Senate sponsor, told POLITICO.
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