we have equal pay advocate lilly ledbetter here. let's start with hillary clinton where she held a roundtable with students and teachers. she gave a more detailed explanation of what she wants her campaign to be about. let's listen. >> i want to be the champion who goes to bat for americans in four big areas, four big fights that i think we need to take on. we need to build the economy of tomorrow, not yesterday. we need to strengthen families and communities because that's where it all starts. we need to fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all, even if that takes a constitutional amendment. and we need to protect our country from the threats that we see and the ones that are on the horizon. >> andrea mitchell is covering hillary clinton's campaign swing through iowa and jonathan allen, chief political correspondent for fox and author of the book "hrc." the rhetoric has been populist of late. she said the deck was stacked in favor of those at the top. today she expanded on that t

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sandra day o'connor to the supreme court, and only a few years ago when president obama signed the lilly ledbetter equal pay act into law. these are all cause for celebration. when we look around we see there , is so much work to be done. as we watch and we celebrate lgbt advances with more and more states moving towards marriage equality, and as we witness divisive and discriminatory policies, like don't ask don't tell being repealed, after years of hard work and effort that is to be celebrated. gender politics seems to be taking a step backwards. women are facing an onslaught of legislation that threatens their reproductive freedoms and access to abortions. we occupy 56% of minimum wage jobs even though we make up only about 49% of the workforce. and governors in states like mine are vetoing fair pay laws if they ever make it to the governor's desk at all. all of this is happening without significant voter backlash, that says we disagree with the direction things are heading. we have to asking ourselves why. i think the answer to that is largely connected to and dictated by our own personal expe

it finishes the job that we started with lilly ledbetter. it would in fact, instruct the conferees to make three reforms. number one to advance the cause of making sure that women get equal pay for equal work. it would stop retaliation for sharing pay information. often workers are harassed and humiliated just for asking about co-workers' salaries. second it would stop employers from using any reason to pay women less. oh the guys do harder jobs. women aren't breadwinners. okay. it is time for equal pay for equal work. it would also allow punitive damages for women who have been discriminated against when the only deterrent against pay discrimination is the threat of paying women back pay. discrimination can be factored into the cost of doing business. mr. president, yesterday was equal pay day something we, unfortunately, commemorate each year. it symbolizes that it takes 104 days longer in a -- than it does for a man to make -- for a woman to earn what a man earned the previous year. what does that mean? it means that for a man and what he

and often we hear about people like lilly ledbetter but they did not have the right work place setting to talk about it many face retaliation for talking about her for talking about it. >> some of the details that you have touched on related to job performance, not gender it strengthens remedy is, pay discriminations, it establishes training programs. where is that legislation right now with congress? >> knew he can speak more to this because i haven't followed step-by-step where the legislation is. >> where do you think about this and updating the older law. >> i think that we are fighting a battle with misguided data. we have established that women tend to work fewer hours they work the same amount of time women doing the same thing should be paid the same but the reality is having a flexible labor market and a growing economy where they have to compete for employees and i'm very concerned about having these regulations because they may make them more expensive and less desirable. i think that we have to be very careful, all of the situations mean that it's going to be harder than th

and only about six years ago when president obama signed the lilly ledbetter fair pay act into law. these are all cause for celebration. but when we look around we see there is so much work to be done. as we watch and we celebrate lgbt advances with more and more states moving to marriage equality, and as we witness divisive discriminatory policies like, "don't ask, don't tell" being repealed, each after years of hard work and effort that is to be celebrated. gender politics, seems to be taking a step backwards. women are facing an onslaught of legislation that threatens their reproductive freedoms, and access to abortion. we occupy 56% of minimum wage jobs, even though we make up only about 49% of the workforce. and governors and states like mine, are vetoing fair pay laws if they ever make it to the governor's desk at all. all of this is happening without significant voter backlash, that says we disagree with the direction things are heading. we have to ask ourselves why? i think that the answer to that is largely connected to, and dictated by our own personal experiences. and the

>> i was very pleased obviously as i said in my remarks president obama has the lilly ledbetter fairpay act and the federal level but a lot of people thought that was job done like it that way back when president kennedy passed the equal pay whacked way back when that was job done. state by state by state these protections have to be created as well. in my own state i worked very hard in my last legislative session to get in equal pay bill through the texas and. no easy feat. it's a republican majority in both the texas senate and the texas house, but we did get it through. we were so excited to place this bill on governor perry's desk. governor perry received pressure from companies like kroger and macy's who wanted him to veto that bill and he vetoed that bill in favor of the pressure that he received. this is happening not just in taxes but elsewhere where these bills are not even making it come as i said earlier to the governor's desk. we've got to make our elected leaders feel that they own the same responsibility to us that they feel they on to people who are potentially mega-

women the mikulski amendment in the well would really take this, finish the job we started with lilly ledbetter. yes, it would deal with the harassment on the job issue if you deal -- if you ask for information, which the fischer amendment only dealt with. my amendment would go farther several steps farther. number two, it would provide punitive damages for women who have been wrongly denied equal pay for several years. and number two, it also eliminates these false reasons that people give for not paying equal pay for equal work. the mikulski amendment is more comprehensive, more robust and will really finish the job close the loopholes that big corporations have had for years. so i really -- if you like fischer, you're going to be crazy about the mikulski amendment. go all the way not just part of the way. i yield back my time. the presiding officer: who yields time in opposition? mr. enzi: we yield back our time and take a voice vote. yeas and nays are requested. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: s vote: vote: the pr