Senate Lets Down Millions of Working Women and Families by Failing to Move Paycheck Fairness Bill Forward

(Washington, D.C.) Today, in an 52-47 vote, the Senate failed to get the 60 needed votes to invoke cloture to end a filibuster on the Paycheck Fairness Act.  In 2010, this bill passed the House with a bipartisan vote, but in a party-line vote did not overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

The following is a statement by National Women’s Law Center Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger:

"Today, because of a determined minority who insisted on filibustering the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Senate failed to stand up for millions of working women who continue to lose, on average, $10,784 in wages every year. At a time when the economic recovery remains fragile, and nearly 40 percent of mothers are primary breadwinners, women’s lost wages represent basic necessities—like food, housing, health insurance and child care—that families need to survive. A woman and her family can hardly afford to be denied equal pay.

“The Paycheck Fairness Act would offer critical protections for working women, including barring retaliation against workers for discussing their own salary information and ensuring full compensation for women denied equal pay. It’s a sad day in America when senators worry more about bosses who insist on paying women less than about the rights of women themselves to equal pay.”

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For more information on Equal Pay, including state-by-state information on the wage gap, go to: http://www.nwlc.org/our-issues/employment/equal-pay