of the party lunches come up at 12:30 and members will return with senator barbara mikulski was the sponsor of the equity built which is before the senate and democratic colleagues talk about that bill which requires employers to pay men and women a similar publications the same wages for similar jobs. now to live coverage ofde the. senate. dr. black. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, today make our lawmakers instruments of your grace and goodness. teach them how to be patient with themselves and each other. forgive them when they permit impatience to lead them astray preventing them from seeing the wonder and majesty of your purpose for our nation and world.

lord, renew in them the joy of belonging to you as they yield their hearts to you in trust and love. may no duty be left undone and no constructive words be left unsaid. we pray in your holy name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 345, s. 2199.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2199, a bill to amend the fair labor standards act of 1938, to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader the senate will be in morning business until 12:30 with the time equally divided and controlled. the senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 to allow for weekly caucus meetings, as we always do on tuesdays. mr. president, s. -- i'm sorry. it's h.r. 2575 is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: h.r. 2575, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1976 to appeal the 30 hour threshold for classification as a full-time employee, and so forth and for

other purposes. mr. reid: i would object to any further proceedings at this time, mr. president. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president, ralph waldo emerson said this -- and i quote -- "america is another name for opportunity." close quote. america is another name for opportunity. today this body, the united states senate, will put emerson's words to the test as we turn attention to the question of equal pay. for working american women, millions of whom are primary wage earners in their families, the paycheck fairness act represents a unique opportunity, a chance to better provide for themselves and their families. mr. president, it's unconscionable that american women currently take home an average of 77 cents for every dollar their male colleagues earn for doing the exact same work. wage disparity holds true

regardless of whether a woman has a college degree, what job she holds or how many hours she spends at the office, factory or wherever it might be. mr. president, consider this just for a brief moment. for a woman to make the same salary as a man in one year for doing similar work in america, she must work not only that year, but also an additional three months and eight days. that's why today, april 8, the eighth day of the fourth month is equal pay day. it represents the extra work american women have to put forth to provide for their families. this is really an injustice and shouldn't be permitted to take place in america. while president obama and democrats have made significant progress toward helping women achieve equal pay, there is still much for us to do. five years ago president obama signed the very first law that

he ever has signed, the first act he did in the oval office was to sign the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. remember, this is the legislation that this good woman found after having worked at this place for so many years, having additional responsibilities than all the men, she found out they were getting paid more than her. much more than her. she was the boss, getting paid less than the people that worked for her. why? because she's a woman. that lilly ledbetter legislation was the biggest step congress has taken on behalf of women since the equal pay act of 1963 to help them with their wages. what that bill said is that the statute of limitations doesn't run until you find out that you're being cheated by your employer. so that legislation helped address the pay gap. but women still suffer from a discriminatory wage disparity.

this paycheck fairness act goes a step further by protections for women in the workplace. this legislation addresses unequal wages by empowering women to negotiate for equal pay and giving employers incentives to obey current law. i'm happy that on all the news accounts today that i was able to be briefed on -- and i listened to with public radio today while i was doing my exercise -- it went into some detail about how women are not treated fairly. this legislation we're working on today enables women to fight against wage discrimination while also preventing retaliation against employees who discuss salary information. before lilly led better, mr. president, and today, if you even discuss what someone else makes, you can be fired. that's the way it is in most

places in america. and finally, it would give much-needed assistance to victims of gender-based pay discrimination. simply put, the paycheck fairness act gives american women the fair shot they deserve. unfortunately, efforts to address this issue have not been well-received by republicans. a similar bill addressing equal pay was blocked by republican filibuster last congress. and the congress before that, they did the same thing. so this third time, let's hope the third time is the charm for american women, hoping, hoping that convince will finally do the right thing. in any other circumstance, be republican senators would be up in arms over this type of economic discrimination. i would hope they should be up in arms over equal pay for women also. why is it that so many republicans are content to allow a woman working the same hours and the same job to make less

money than her male coworker? it's hard to comprehend, since women make up nearly half of the u.s. labor force and more than half the women in college -- i'm sorry -- more than half the people in college are women, we're finding in professional schools, law school, medical school, more women than men. is it reasonable to assume that women should be treated unfairly? is it reasonable to assume that republicans in this body have wives, daughters or sisters who are or will be affected by this wage disparity? shouldn't we do something about it? so, mr. president, i urge my colleagues to keep those loved ones, people like my daughter and my many granddaughters, keep their, keep their loved ones in mind and in their thoughts as they consider the question of equal pay for women. we'll have this vote, the first vote will be the day after tomorrow. so, mr. president, we need to do

that. to do otherwise would simply be unfair. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i want to take a minute to congratulate the kentucky wildcats for an extraordinary season. my home state has held on to the ncaa national championship trophy for the past two years. now with the louisville cardinals claiming it last year and the wildcats claiming it in

2012. they made an incredible run that captivated both our state and the nation. while the commonwealth will now relinquish the trophy to connecticut, i only ask that my colleagues, senator murphy and blumenthal, see to it that the trophy remain in pristine condition. pristine condition. as my state will undoubtedly reclaim it next year. on another matter, mr. president, america's middle class is struggling. they need serious job creation solutions. but that's not really what they have been getting from the president. he seems more intent on staging campaign-style rallies to bemoan an economy he's been presiding over for the last five and a half years, not really to offer solutions but more to do what he does best, which is to shift the blame to others. meanwhile yesterday here in the senate, republicans were hoping the majority leader would finally work with us to pass a

job creation package that contains ideas from many of our members, legislation with provisions several key democrats support as well. but that's not what the majority chose to do. instead of focusing on jobs, he launched into another confusing attack on the left's latest bizarre obsession. just think about that. the percentage of americans in the workforce is at an almost four-decade low, and democrats chose to ignore serious job-creation ideas so they could blow a few kisss to their powerful pals on the left. at a time when so many americans are desperate -- desperate -- for a good job, at a time of fewer opportunities people are hurting, college graduates can't find a job, working families can't afford to pay their bills, what they need right now are real job-creation solutions, not some tone-deaf blame-deflexion

rally or some daily bout of shadow boxing here on the senate floor. some say this is all just embarrassing, but there's one positive side to washington democrats' never-ending political road show. it really throws the divide between the two parties into stark relief. on the one side, you have a washington democratic party that's simply run out of ideas. when it comes to fixing the economy, they have tried just about everything their ideology will allow. taxing, regulating, stimulating; you name it and none of it has worked. so at this point they have basically dropped any pretense of doing anything serious on the economy. that's why we heard them essentially admit that their governing agenda is actually a political document drafted by the campaign staff, that its proposals are basically just show votes designed specifically not to pass. so that's one side of american

politics, a party that's out of ideas, campaign obsessed and utterly beholden to the far left. on the other side, though, you have a republican party that's committed to getting our economy working for the middle class. we believe in the power of ideas and we know that with the right forward-looking policies, we can and will break through the stagnation of the obama economy. republican focuses on offering more opportunity to the middle class and those who aspire to it. our focus is on offering innovative ways to generate the kind of stable, well-paying jobs that americans actually want. we also know that we can get more done as a country if both parties can work together to see these policies through, and leave behind the sterile campaign theatrics that have been on daily display here under the democratic majority. so i'm asking our democratic colleagues to consider dropping

all the show votes, the blame, deflecting and perpetual campaigning. what i'm asking for them is to consider shifting from policies that don't work -- in other words, what they have been trying for the last five and a half years -- to ones that will. every senator was sent here to get things done for our constituents, and we can. we can pass a positive jobs agenda for the american people. all we need is for washington democrats to work with us for a change. and, ans, mr. president, one other item. this morning i.r.s. commissioner koskinen will testify before the finance committee. i'm sure members will be remindings him of this and i know several sent him a letter, too. but i would like to undermine the point. commissioner coughs kin nen recently led congress to believe that his agency will not be imposing antifree speech rules before this november election.

it is a point he reiterated again just the other day. so congress plans to hold him to what he's been leading the americaamericantheamerican peopd he needs to prevent the i.r.s. from stepping on the first amendment altogether. he needs to stop this proposed regulation just as the secretary of the treasury told us he could do, if he wanted. income, the house of representatives recently -- in fact, the house of representatives recently voted to halt it. remember, tens of thousands of americans made their opinions known directly to the i.r.s. about this regulation. it was an unprecedented response and nearly all of the comments were opposed. the comments came from straight across the political spectrum. so commissioner coughs kin nen needs to live up to what he told the senate when we confirmed him, when he led us to believe that he would an independent voice for reform. as i said before, the commissioner has a choice. he can be a hero, like the

i.r.s. commissioner who stood up to president nixon, or he can just be another pawn of this administration. both congress and the american people expect him to make the right decision. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 12:30 p.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, my wife and i are blessed with a son and daughter who are good people, hard workers, good values. we basically believe the following: if they did the same job, disherve the same pay. -- they deserve the same pay, my daughter and my son. most americans agree with that. people should be judged on what they do, their performance,

their productivity, not on their gender. that is at the heart of the issue pending before the united states senate at this moment. tomorrow we'll take a vote. it is a procedural vote, so it takes 60 senators to vote to move forward on what's known at paycheck fairness act. we have 55 democrats. simple math tells you, unless five republican senators join us to move forward on this issue, that's the end of the story. it would be unfortunate if it's the end of the story. the paycheck fairness act amends the equal pay act to discourage discrimination based on gender and to help narrow the pay gap in america. the bill provides women the same remedies for sex-based pay discrimination that are available to people today based on racial or national origin discrimination. number one.

number two, the bill prohibits retaliation against workers who disclose their wages. think about that for a second. lilly ledbetter, who worked in a tire factory in alabama for years, toward the end of her work life received an anonymous note that said, lily, you have been underpaid. you've been making less than the men do in the same job at this plant since you've been here. she was crushed. she thought she was a valued employee. no one ever questioned the quality of her work. and she was being paid less than the men doing the same work at her factory. heshe filed a lawsuit. it made it all the way to the supreme court across the street. and, is no not surprisingly, ths supreme court said, sorry, ms. ms. ledbetter, you should be reported that pay discrimination

when it first started. well, why didn't she? she didn't know. how could she know? payroll in fact isn't published, except perhaps for government employees. so that payroll information wasn't available to her to file the lawsuit when it first occurred. when she found out about it, she filed the suit. across the street, the learned supreme court said, "too laivment" so we changed the law. the very first law signed by the president of the united states barack obama was the lilly ledbetter fair pay act, which said that lilly ledbetter and women just like her across america deserved an opportunity for equal pay for equal work. what we have before us today, this paycheck fairness act is an effort to make sure that law is strong and helps women across america. and so it says that women cannot be discriminated against in the workplace sumly becausworkplacee

women. number two, you can't threaten retaliation if one worker tells another what the pay is at that particular place of work. and the third thing it does is adds programs for training, research, technical assistance, and awards to recognize pay equity employers. the equal pay act was signed in to law 50 years ago. the pay gap today is just about the same as it was then. women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. african women make 70 cents on the dollar. hispanic women about 60 cents on the dollar. in my state of illinois, 37% of married, employed mothers in the state are their families' primary wage earners and yet they face the same income disparity. it turns out to be a yearly gap

of $11,596 on average between men and women who work full-time in my state. that's what the disparity between men and women means in the state of illinois. and it isn't just less takehome pay for women doing the same job. it means fewer social security benefits when they retire. they're not earning at the same level as men. they pay for it for a lifetime, this discrimination. the national partnership for women and families found that ending this wage gap would provide women in my state with additional earnings equivalent of 97 weeks of food, 1 month 13s of rent. it is a big deal for a struggling family, particularly for a woman struggling wage earner in illinois. regardless of occupation, education, industry, or marital status, pay for women in my state lags behind their male counterparts.

women in illinois who work in business and financial management earn 72% of their male counterparts' salaries. is it wrong? yes it is. are we prepared to say so in legislation? tune in tomorrow and find out whether five republicans will join us to raise this issue of pay fairness for women across america. i am not encouraged by the statement just made on the floor made by the republican leader. he referred to this whole conversation about paycheck fairness, minimum-wage increases so that people who go to work every single day do not live in poverty, he referred to these as -- quote -- "the left's latest bizarre obsessions." he said that we were blowing a few kisses to our powerful pals on the left with this legislative agenda. he called it "tone-deaf," "blame

did he fection,defection," "shan the senate floor." he said the divide is in stark relief. he's right. he went on to say, we should drop any pretense of doing anything serious in this chamber if this is what we're going to discuss. how serious is equal pay for equal work to working people across america? i think it's critical. it's one thing for the senate republican leader to talk about job creation. we all want it. we're desperate for it. we're moving toward it in many different ways. but let's talk about those who are working and have jobs and whether they are paid fairly. is that important to them? of course. simply having a job may be important, but when you get to the heart of it, people want to

be rewarded for good work. they don't want to work 40 hours a week, get up every morning, get on the bus in the dark, put their kids on the bus at the neighbor's house for day care and tend of th at the end of thk realize they're still living in poverty. that's what today's minimum wage does. the women on the bus in chicago -- and you see them every morning packing across a shopping bag of the basics so they can go to work, leaving the kids behind -- they want to believe they're going to be paid fairly for what they do. that's not too much to ask. and, according to the republican leader, it shows the stark contrast between the two parties. well, it is a stark contrast. the republican leader says that we want to work for a commitment to jobs. we want to focus on the power of ideas. i want to focus on the power of an idea, too. it is the idea of fairness.

it is the idea of fair play. it is as basic as being an american, to believe that people ought to be treated fairly. that when they do the same work they're entitled to the same pay. that is not too much to ask. in fact, we should demand it. and so i suppose we're going to have a critical, historic vote tomorrow. i'm just hoping five -- just five republicans will step up on behalf of working women across america and join us on this paycheck fairness act. without them, this idea will die for now. but it is not going to die forever. the american people have the last word. they'll have it in the election. they can decide if this is important. they can decide whether, as the republican leader said, this is just a bizarre obsession on the part of the left to think of

fair pay for the same work. i think it's pretty basic to america. this is our chance. paycheck fairness, a minimum wage to keep people out of poverty who get up and go to work every day. these are fundamental to a good workplace and a workforce across america which is respected by the united states senate. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be rescind. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, last week the men and wome women eigt forforthood witnessed a shocking act of violence as a gunman suddenly and inexplicably opened fire killing three soldiers and wounding 16 others. yet even as our attention has

focused at the horror of this event, i think it's also important to talk about the very best of humanity demonstrated during this time of tragedy and crisis. the men and women although at ad saw the very best of humanity in the military police officer that confronted the shooter, for example. they saw it in private jacob sanders who risked his own life in the hoping of saving one of the victims. they saw it in jonathan westbrook, who was shot and wounded by the gunman but still managed to radio fort hood officials. they also saw it in sergeant first class danny ferguson, who served a combat tour in iraq and had recently gotten home from a second one in afghanistan. last wednesday, sergeant

ferguson used his own body to prevent the shooter from entering a crowded room. he gave his life so that his fellow soldiers could keep theirs. he showed the kind of heroism that few of us could even imagine, the kind of heroism that defines our men and women in uniform. so even though we mourn the terrible loss of sergeant ferguson, we want to also take a moment to celebrate his wonderful example and his wonderful life, just as we celebrate the remarkable lives of sergeant timothy owens and staff sergeant lazani rodriguez. sergeant owens served his country in iraq and kuwait and also served as a counselor at fort hood. according to his mother, he counseled literally hundreds of

people. his brother, darrell, described him as someone who would help anybody who needed help. sergeant lazani rodriguez was a native of puerto rico and he served multiple combat tours in iraq. and he, too, made a distinct impression on his friends and fellow soldiers at fort hood. one of them described him as the epitome of what you would want in a leader in the army. as i mentioned a moment ago, as we mourn the loss of sergeant ferguson, sergeant owens, sergeant lazani rodriguez, we should take a moment to celebrate their lives. and their service. all three of these men chose, they volunteered to devote their life to a noble cause -- the defense of our country. and our memories of their work and their sacrifice should live

forever. before i conclude, i want to say one more word about fort hood, where i'll be traveling tomorrow with the president. fort hood is also known as the great place, they call it, the great place. i had the honor of visiting the post last thursday and i'll do so again tomorrow for the memorial, as i said. but as we all remember, fort hood was also the scene of an earlier mass shooting in november of 2009. that was yet another day where we saw both the worst and the best of humanity. we saw the very best of humanity in people like michael cahill, a civilian physician's assistant and retired soldier, and army captain john gaffney, both of whom charged the gunman, major nadal hassan, and gave their lives in addition to save the lives -- lives in order to save

the lives of others around them. over the last 13 years, the fort hood community has made enormous contributions to america's missions in iraq and afghanist afghanistan, where more than 4 -- or 550 of their soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice. in fact, the last combat brigade to leave iraq was a fort hood brigade, the 3rd brigade of the storied first cavalry division. i sometimes think about the fact that most americans probably don't have a close friend or relative who has served in the armed forces, and so in some ways, the american people have become isolated to some degree from the realities of war and national security. for them, the war in afghanistan is something they read about in the newspaper or they hear about on tv but it's not very real to them unless they have a family member or a loved one or a

friend who has served. for the families at fort hood and the surrounding texas communities of belton, copper's cove, harker heights, caleen and temple, it is something much different, something much more personal because it is a family member, it is a loved one, it is a friend who has served. and many of them have lost their lives in the process because they believed that keeping the american people was something more important than their own personal security and safety. so i want to take this moment to let the families and friends of the victims at fort hood and, indeed, to tell all the good people at fort hood that your fellow americans are thinking about you, we're praying for y you, and keeping you close in our hearts during this difficult time.

mr. president, i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

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mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i begin by remarking on -- the presiding officer: i'm sorry, the senator from connecticut. we are in a quorum call right now. mr. blumenthal: if i may ask, mr. president, that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i want to begin by remarking on the extraordinary and remarkable triumph of the uconn men's basketball team last night, a victory that really is beyond my words to describe in the achievement it represents for those players, for the school, for the coach, kevin ollie, and for the entire university,

really, in the face of last year's disqualification, unfair and unjust fight, in my view. i am so proud of our team and the university of connecticut for its steadfast and relentless pursuit of this national championship which last night culminated in a huge and joyous triumph, felt throughout connecticut and in fact throughout the country. and i will be commenting in greater length and depth on what this achievement reflects in the university of connecticut, what it means in college athletics and what lessons we can take from this great triumph. in the meantime, i am wearing my university of connecticut tie with the emblem of the huskies

because last night's prime isoma prelude to tonight. uconn is rolling with momentum to two national championships. the women, i believe, will prevail tonight, and i expect to collect on another debt, the debt owed to me already by my colleagues from kentucky i think will be supplemented tomorrow, and i will ask that my connecticut colleague, senator paul, wear this tie if only for a moment and demonstrate who was the better team last night. both great teams, but connecticut was the greatest. i'm here on a very serious and important subject, the paycheck fairness act. and i thank my colleagues who were with me earlier today at an event we did. the president is doing an event right now. he has announced that he will require all federal contractors

to follow the rule that there should be no retaliation against people in the workplace who share information about what they are paid. it sounds like a basic principle of fairness, but unfortunately the law has gaps that permit discrimination, gender discrimination. unequal pay for the same work. and today on equal payday, i'm here to advocate for the paycheck fairness act which will help fill some of those gaps. now, this issue is not a man's issue. it's not a women's issue. it is a family issue. it is not about women. it is about paycheck fairness. and it is as much about men as it is about women, because right now 40% of all our families are

supported by women either as the sole or the primary breadwinner, and that means the children of those families and the men depend on that income and on the fairness of their paycheck to keep a roof over their heads and to keep food on the table. paycheck fairness is about a fair shot, a fair shot for every woman and every person in american society. it is part of a larger agenda that includes raising the minimum wage, which we still have to do, and restoring unemployment insurance which the senate did yesterday, but we still have to do in the house, that larger agenda about a fair shot goes to the core of the american conscience about what's right. but it also happens to be what's economically smart, because

paying women equally to men for the same work means that women will come to jobs and they will work better in those jobs, more productively and women have so much to contribute in jobs where they serve equally or better than men. unfortunately, the promise of the equal pay act signed in 1963 by president kennedy has yet to be achieved. that promise was that equality would prevail in the workplace. but 51 years later, the disparities are glaring, the gaps between gender pay are unacceptable and inexcusable. women make only 77% of every dollar earned by men. and the disparity is even greater in certain professions.

in the janitorial profession among supervisors and among c.e.o.'s, women make 70 cents or less on the dollar. the same is true among financial advisors and among product inspectors. so the disparities cut across all professions. in fact, in 97% of all professions, women make less for the same job than men. and that is why we must work to change the law. the paycheck fairness act would accomplish a number of very simple straightforward goals. number one, it would enable workers to share information without fear of retaliation. right now, a worker can be fired or demoted if he or she shares information about what they are

making, and the lilly ledbetter act of 2009 advanced these goals and made some progress but this threat of retaliation is real and completely unconscionable and it should be directly prohibited by law. second, the burden should be on the employer to establish that pay disparities are business related or job specific. those disparities ought to be the job of the employer to justify, not the employee. after all, it's not the employee that makes those decisions, it's the employer. and he ought to be the one to present a justification based on objective and real business-related or job-specific factors. and finally, the paycheck

fairness act provides for punitive damages. only by establishing punitive damages can the evils and harms done by pay discrimination be effectively deterred. only that economic penalty will discourage employers by providing real consequences for their discrimination. this issue is really an american issue that has resonance coast to coast, job to job and person to person. but mostly it has resonance among families. the estimates are that eliminating the gender pay gap will reduce poverty from 28.7% to 15%. it will reduce poverty most importantly among children. it will give those children a

leg up that they lack now. it will give their moms a sense of justified dignity and self-respect, and it will make a practical difference in the lives of family, raising the self-respect and dignity of men as well as women, if they are the beneficiaries of false factors, simple gender discrimination, how can they justify the additional pay that they as men make? discovering and proving discrimination is a formidable, daunting, sometimes insurmountable challenge. discovering it is difficult enough. that's why sharing information is necessary. proving it is sometimes virtually impossible without the

kind of law that the paycheck fairness act will provide the rights and making those rights real that can be achieved, ending systematic pay discrimination that undermines and disserves our entire society. it demeans all of us. it fails to give people a fair shot when that is the ethos, the core conscience of american economic progress. a fair shot is not only fair, it's smart and it will promote jobs and economic growth, which all of us deeply want and deserve. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: i that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: i have 12 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

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