In the great game to topple the President and beat the Democrats, every Republican Senator voted as a united bloc to stop the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act for women.
For those who want to blame President Obama, Valerie Jarrett, the White House Council for Women and Girls, and Senator Reid -- your anger is misplaced. They have been working consistently with the coalition to pass the Act, and the President and Jarrett met with women's leaders at the White House after the vote. They wanted to make sure we knew that they will continue working with us until Paycheck Fairness is passed. The President is confident the Act will pass, and cited the majority of Republican and Independent women who support pay equity.
Senate Republicans, who voted in lockstep, don't care how or whether women can put food on the table or roofs over their heads. They sent a message to women, "you are dispensable."
Let's face it, Republicans saw stopping the Paycheck Fairness Act as an easy vote to appease the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and big business interests that have been stalling this fair pay bill for years. They are such cowards, hiding behind procedural votes because they don't have the courage to vote no on the bill itself. They know a majority of Americans support pay equity for women.
Senator Reid has been a stalwart supporter. Despite a crowded calendar, he scheduled the bill for a vote and delivered 57 Democrats and one Independent, all of whom voted to bring the Act to the Senate floor. In any other democracy, 58 votes out of 100 would be a winning majority, but once again the Senate rules were abused by Republicans to stall equality.
The arcane rules of the Senate and their misuse must be brought to a halt.
Women in this country are paid, on average, $0.76 for every dollar a man earns for similar work. If an employer intentionally pays a women less than a man for doing the same job, then that employer deserves to be sued.
So whose to blame?
This is an across-the-field problem. It is a gender problem. It isn't a job by job problem. Do you know why librarians have to have a Masters Degree and still make low wage? Because back in the 1800's it was deemed a WOMAN'S JOB. The rules haven't changed. The entire federal service was called out for wage discrepancy, though they've been working to correct it. "The gender pay gap fell from 28 cents to 11 cents on the dollar between 1988 and 2007"
Women work just as hard as men, hold the same degrees, take on the same hours. They deserve the same pay. Period.
The Republicans are right? When it doesn't apply to you? What about the day when one of their Take Back America bites diminishes your way of life? Would a retort of "get a different life" make you feel like you mattered?
My fellow MBA degree holders, who happen to be women, earn higher wages. Ditto for the PhD biologist who is lead on a biotech project I am associated with. Same as the MD degree held by my daughter in law.....
You are not competing with American employers any longer. You are in competition with 2.5 billion Chinese and Indians who work longer, cost less and are better educated every year. They are going to clean your clocks while you construct the perfectly 'level' society.
Honestly, at the rate you are going, you don't stand a chance.
If it's a matter of competition, why not make college tuition more affordable so our kids can help the US compete in the global market? I know, why not stop paying college football players millions and let education have a chance?
Or would that be unfair to our hard working football players....
A progressive grassroots campaign makes dems stand tall on their principles and not sell out. We need to work with moneyed folks who believe in progressive efforts.
MSM tries to con people that this is a center right nation, but the country by birth is progressive. Each time the country has moved forward it has been thru progressive times in our history. The time in history when conservatism dominated - wars, economic crises, racial strife, etc prevailed until progressivism came back to move the country onto its correct path.
Interesting thing to watch in the next Congress-- will the Senate rules committee go back to 51 votes to win?