second fact, the lilly ledbetter act is national law.t was the first bill that president obama signed. he talked about it during the '08 campaign. he said he was for it. he came in, he signed it. what greg abbott, who is now the candidate for governor of texas has done, is he went to court as attorney general and said the lilly ledbetter act, which is an enforcement of equal pay, the lilly ledbetter act should not work in texas for women who are employed by texas a&m. you have women who work for a university. they're employees of the state of texas. because of greg abbott going to court, they are not covered by the lilly ledbetter act. i think that's wrong. i think these women deserve full legal protection. wendy davis, the democratic candidate, has in fact co-sponsored a bill that would ensure that the lilly ledbetter act is enforced in texas. that is one of the simple steps we can take to get to that place that michael was talking about where women and men are getting equal pay for their families. >> and just for people tuning in at ho

act. >> we don't believe the lilly ledbetter act is what's going to solve that problem for women.en want real world solutions to this problem, not more rhetoric. >> apparently taking a company to court for paying a woman a fraction of a man's salary isn't a real world solution. so what answer do republicans have? >> women are extremely busy. we lead busy lives whether working professionally, working from home, and times are extremely busy. it's a busy cycle for women and we've got a lot to juggle. and so when we look at this issue, we think what's practical? and we want more access to jobs. we want to be able to go -- get a heyer education degree at the sometime we're work organize raising a family. >> translation, string together a bunch of words of women and family and jobs and busy cycles and juggling things but off nor policy or answers. it doesn't seem all that practical a strategy in the end. trying to fight something as fundamentally logical as equal pay for equal work, maybe it's better to avoid the details. that's all for "now." see you back here tomorrow 4:00 p.m. easter

so that's what lily ledbetter does.ccessfully and be awarded that pay. i mean to me this gets to a bigger issue that's that's not just about gender. it's about the fact that republican economic policies benefit folks who are already well off. >> yes. >> it benefits businesses who are large contributors to them. it benefits people who are already at the top of the income. and i think, increasingly, people are feeling like this party has nothing to offer me. >> you're absolutely right. it's not just the people at the top. it's the people at the top of the top. >> yeah. >> because that point you made about, when you have men and women in equal numbers on your boards, your bottom lines are actually higher, that's good economic policy for everybody involved in the big business, for everybody involved in the corporation, except for those at the very, very top. so if republican policies were rooted in fact, and consequence dictated how they chose to govern, we would be dealing with a very different party. but they do this on s

so you can fight the lily ledbetter act if you want to.t start it by saying we're busy and mentioning cycle three times. that's a big ouch. >> ms. mika taking america to the class. >> it was the cycle thing. >> yeah. that was earlier in the show we had the long discussion of politics of equal pay and the issue that's surfaced in the race for texas governor. now, we got a lot of tweets about the conversation. >> really? >> that you started earlier. >> are they mad? >> yes. we got this. btw, morning, mika, you don't need to apologize to anyone. are you absolutely right in standing up for women. more grease. you did say, i'm sorry, and then reversed course and then said, you know what, i went against my own recommendation -- >> because of robbie, knowing your value, don't apologize. don't go in there and have other reasons why you need a race, like your family or this or that. go in there with your value, right there, right in front of you. no apologizing. right? >> and this was one of the things we found out in the survey we did with the cen

. >> the argument for equal pay, lilly ledbetter on the books now.re is a disequality of like 70 cents on the dollar. it seems like whatever laws go through and get signed by the president. this hasn't gotten to the reality level yet. >> this was signed in 2009, his first bill. he made a very big deal out of it throughout his campaign even in 2012. and so i think what you have at the state level are efforts to essentially pass state lilly ledbetter laws. in texas wendy davis pushed through a bill that got through the state and house but vetoed by rick perry. you have this happening in a number of states. in wisconsin the equal pay law was repealed. you have women running in these states making a big deal out of this. at a time when republicans are trying to really reset their approach to women one of the things they are trying to do is have more high profile women. you have women carrying the message of the republican party and their approach to equal pay which is essentially to say it is not needed because state laws are already good enough. and als

. >> we don't believe that lilly ledbetter act is what's going to solve that problem for women.omen are extremely busy. we lead busy lives, whether working professionally or from home and times are extremely -- extremely busy. >> on monday, the executive director of the texas republican party tried to clarify the gop's solution to fair pay. take a listen. >> men are better negotiators and i would encourage women instead of pursuing the courts for action to become better negotiators. >> but this fight isn't only a problem, of course, in texas. we are seeing this nationwide. in fact, nia-malika henderson writes in an op-ed for the "washington post" "republicans have yet to figure out how to effectively push back on the democrats' war on women rhetoric. having conservative women in the conversation is a great start. it remains to be seen whether they will be better at selling the republican message and helping to close the gender gap." with me now, laura basset, political reporter for the huffington post. thank you for your time. i should point out that a state representative from

this white house, of course, passed the lily ledbetter act that this president created the white houseobamacare i think is something that women could get their heads around a lot quicker than men, especially as it pertains to getting their kids covered as they go into adulthood. one final thing here. the white house is marking its calendar for an upcoming event aimed at helping working families. president obama will be bringing together americans from all walks of life to continue what the white house calls a year of action. and the focus is on women, including workplace flexibility, equal pay, discrimination, and early childhood education. the summit is in june and i'm a part of it and i am very, very excited. >>> chuck todd, thank you very much. we will see you coming up on "the daily rundown." >>> up next, surprising new details seem to emerge every day in the search for the missing plane. that doesn't mean we're any closer to finding it. former ntsb investigator greg feith joins us with the latest. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. ♪ this body made two amazing l

that's why the first li signed into law was called the lily ledbetter fair pay act.plause] it made sure that it would be easier for women to talk about not being paid the same as men and congress will have a chance to go further by voting yes or no on the paycheck fairness act. right now, majority of senators support that bill but so far republicans have blocked it. we've got to get them to change their mind and join us in this century because a woman deserves equal pay for equal work. it's pretty straightforward. [applause] host: we are back with heidi hartmann at the institute of women's policy research. he mentioned the paycheck fairness act. can you tell us more about that man at the same educational level. legislation? guest: that is a proposed piece of legislation that has come up for about a couple of times but is not passed yet. it would simply strengthen our ability to enforce existing laws. we have a 1963 equal pay act and we have the 1964 civil rights act and this bill focuses on stronger enforcement or the equal pay act but nice clear that an employer --

there are measures in the lilly ledbetter actt that might put a burden on businesses.e honest about how you are feeling. this is when republicans get into real trouble when they don't answer things honestly. we see that time and time again. >> as i listen to it, it is almost like she was blaming women, both of them. if we negotiated better we would be doing better. we are too bizbusy like they ar internalizing the fault for the ineequality. >> equal pay is women's number one work place issue. that is what we have seen. women care about it a great deal. you mentioned the 77 cents figure. that number is considerably lower for women of color. hispanic women population. this is something they are paying a lot of attention to. i can't really explain why republican lawmakers have had such a hard time coming up with an answer for it. first they say it doesn't exist and then blame women. >> a recent poll found 59% of women say the republican party doesn't understand the need and concerns of women. here is what right wingers were saying before the big re-brand. listen. >> if it

things that have ensured women's advancement over time, the fact that the president signed the lilly ledbetter first act as president is a major deal that they ignore, largely because they're not ready to talk truth and what it really means to be a woman in america in this day and age, ed. so they're meeting their audience where they are. the rest of the women in the gop aren't ready to talk about these things. >> here are the numbers. 163 speakers, according to "the l.a. times" and panelists at cpac. 78% were men. 21% were women. that's a 57-point gender gap. isn't that a statement? >> it's also a statement, ed, that most of these rooms were vacant. during michele bachmann's speech, there are a couple of yeahs, literally a couple. i think there is also a larger problem of who they're speaking to. they have a demographics problem, whether they're talk about gender, race, young people, folks with disabilities, and the rest of the things in this country that make us diverse there is nothing big tin about cpac or the big party writ large. >> how outrageous was it, michele bachmann's comment about

goodness, as we know and shira knows, the first bill he signed when he came to office was the lilly ledbetterthe problem obviously is shira, when you look at the numbers that show some skepticism about democrats, then women become even more important. and in 2012, 53% of voters were women. the republican response has been, isn't it that the real war on women is being waged by democrats because the economy isn't doing well? which seems to be what the president is responding to. >> right, so what i think is fascinating, really, about the last couple cycles and what democrats have done to appeal to female voters is the shift to economic issues, right? the president also mentioned the same things, equal pay and the state of the union as well. this has bieen something he talked about in the 2012 race, too. we shifted from abortion issues to economic issues. that's part of the argument, which is? trusting because it's been curious to see how republicans respond to this, right? the past, they have been able to respond to the abortion, they have a party platform issue, but the economics issue mixes t

that's why the first bill i signed into law was called the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. [cheers and applause] it made sure it that it was sue if theyomen to were not being paid the same as men. in the coming weeks, congress will have a chance to go even further by voting yes or no on what is called the paycheck fairness act. right now the majority of the senators support that bill, but so far republicans have blocked it. we have got to get them to change their minds and join us in this century. a woman deserves equal pay for equal work. it's pretty straightforward. [cheers and applause] and congress should not stop there. a woman deserves work price -- workplace policies that protect her right to have a baby without losing her job. if men were having babies, we would have different policies. [laughter] that is for certain. a woman deserves to take a day off to care for sick child or parent without running into hardship. [cheers and applause] congress needs to act so that americans join every other advanced nation on earth by offering paid leave to those who work hard eve

that is why the first bill i signed into law was called the lilly ledbetter fair pay act -- [applause] edit made sure that it was easier for women to sue if they were not being paid the same as men. in the coming weeks, congress will have a chance to go further by voting yes or no on what is called the paycheck fairness act. right now a majority of senators support that bill. republicans have blocked it. we need to get them to change their minds and join us in this century because women deserve equal pay for equal work. it is pretty simple. [applause] and congress should not stop there. deserves workplace policies that protect her right to have a baby without losing her job. -- s pretty clear if men were having babies, we would have different policies. right? we know that. that is for certain. take a dayerves to childr caring for a sick or parent without running into hardship areas -- hardship. join everyhould other advanced nation on earth by providing paid leave. do away with some of these workplace policies that episode. a "mad men" when women succeed, america succeeds. i truly bel

act, ervice and labor lilly ledbetter, long shore abblingt, mental health and dition shon act, mental act, ational labor allegations act. occupational safety and health act. big one, d that's a obamacare. the pregnancy discrimination act, sarbanes oxley, the title 7 of the civil rights act, the niformed act of 1978, veterans mprovements act, vietnam acts, adjustment and act. ning can anyone keep up with that. this business has to. with 13 employees how many people does it take just to keep with up with those regulations? mr. speaker, we have a problem. we have a washington, d.c., that has become arrogant. i don't think it's intention install. quite frankly, everyone is trying tosh kind, overly kind and stack on one regulation over another and no company can keep up with this. the attitude is simple. we know better than you. we won't run your company. you quont run your family like t should be run bru tell you like it should be run. you won't run your insurance company, so we will run it for you. mistreat ll employees. mr. speaker, that is not what we are as americans. ur nation became

the texas republican party, explaining her party's opposition to a state's version of the lilly ledbetterand i would encourage women instead of pursuing the courts for action to become better negotiators. yeah, let that marinate. it's all part of a theme in the republican party to counter the idea of a war on women by arguing that women can get equal pay and other benefits on their own and that public policy need not interfere. i mean, come on. i can't -- i can't even. >> when 80% of the low wage workers in america become men, i'll stop talking. i'll stop -- and everybody else should stop talking. when there is parody in pay, when there's parody in the distribution of jobs, then we can stop complaining and start negotiating. i think this is outrageous. i think this argument was also made in the civil rights movement if blacks would just negotiate, if blacks would just learn to do things more differently, they wouldn't seem like whiners. well, there was something structurally wrong. that's what you need to address. i think this is undermining any sort of women's movement there could be. we

including groundbreaking legislation like the lilly ledbetter fair pay act.when we are at the decision making table, we make the discussions more representative of our population while bringing a unique perspective which expands the conversation. that is why i will continue to support legislation that will amplify our voices and improve the quality of life for women across our nation by increasing the minimum wage, investing in quality early childhood education, protecting reproductive rights and increasing access to high quality stem education. as we celebrate women's history month, let's be mindful of the progress we have made and the work that still needs to be done. because when women succeed, america succeeds. i yield back. mr. horsford: thank you to the chairwoman of the congressional black caucus and for your dynamic leadership on behalf -- as the chair of the congressional black caucus. it has been my honor to serve with you this legislative congressional session and look forward to the many achievements ahead on behalf of the congressional black cauc