thanks to my friend lily ledbetter.nly for that introduction but for fighting for a simple principle. equal pay for equal work. it's not that complicated. and, lily, i assure you, you remain the face of fair pay. people don't want my mug on there. they want your face. you know, as lily mentioned, she did not set out to be a trailblazer. she's just somebody eithvery da going to work, the best that she could. and then one day she finds out after years that she earned less than her male colleagues for doing the same job. i want to make that point again. doing the same job. you know, sometimes when we discuss this issue of fair pay, equal pay for equal work, and the pay gap between men and women, you'll hear all sorts of excuses. well, they're child bearing and they're choosing to do this and they're this and they're that and the other. she was doing the same job. probably doing it better. the same job. working just as hard, probably putting in more hours. but she was getting systematically paid less. and so she set out to

. >> now, the woman you see standing next to the president there is lily ledbetter, and she's the woman who worked at goodyear tire for 19 years making 40% less than her male co-workers until one of them wrote her an anonymous note exposing her pay gap. the actions build on the fair pay act that bears her name. she spoke to my colleague about today's actions. >> if this had been a law back in my day, i wouldn't be here because i would be at home drawing the proper retirement that i had legally earned through my working career. >> today republicans are firing back calling equal pay and the president's actions a political ploy. >> so on this equal payday, i would urge us to stop politicizing women and let's start focussing on those policies that are actually going to help women and everyone in this country have a better life. >> now, in all fairness, this is a medicine term election year, and the president is and has been working hard to rally his base. our nbc first reid team points out the reasons why firing up the female base is key. women have made the difference between democrats win

without lily ledbetter there wouldn't be a fair pay act. that became law in 2009. her employer paid her significantliless than her male colleagues over the course of nearly 20 years. she joins us right now along with msnbc political analyst michael steele who chaired the rnc. thank you so much for joining us. i guess i wanted to -- i don't know how partisan you are, or if you're even partisan, but this has become an issue that the democrats are rallying about, they're getting together on, and maybe that's because women, certainly this part of our american history, are voting democrat predominantly. how do you see this in party terms, come into this election? >> well, coming into this election, the people have, it's us against them, like republican against democrats and vice versa. one thing looking back, too, chris, the lily ledbetter fair pay act was sponsored and co-sponsored by both parties. when you're speaking about women and their pay, you're taking about the american families. this should be everybody's concern. >> but is it? >> no. no, it is not. that's why

as crystal alluded to this morning, lily ledbetter is such an important piece of this conversation toactually have a story that we can all look to to advance this conversation, but igor, thank you so much for joining us. >>> in addition to being equal payday, an important note for ice cream lovers. it's also free cone day at the ben and jerry's. they taste even better when it's free. >>> talk about a treat your news cycle. that's next. sfx: car unlock beep. vo: david's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. and you'll see just how much it has to offer, especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for. tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to

the lily ledbetter act was the first step in this direction.ow the president's taking additional steps what, five years later? so why has it taken so long to move on and make sure this really does happen in our country? >> well, every single year, the president has been supporting a piece of legislation that is sitting up on the hill right now called paycheck fairness. that law would do the same thing he did today by executive order, except it would apply to all employers. our goal is to get congress to act to cover all employers. as he said n thin this year's s of the action, where congress fails to act, he will take action. yet he's still pushing congress to pass a very important legislation that would benefit every single woman out there who has no idea whether or not she's being discriminated against, does not have access to data that would show whether or not. and is concerned her employers might retaliate against her in the event she starts to ask what other people are making. >> in the house of representatives is basically saying what yo

i mean, lily ledbetter didn't just make this up. the court, when it looked at the documents said yeah, you've been getting paid less for doing the same job. the court then said -- as lily said, it's been happening so long, you can't do anything about it anymore. which makes no sense. that's why we have to sign another bill. it's basic math that adds up to real money. it makes a real difference for a lot of americans who are working hard to support their families. and, of course, the fact that we've got some resistance from some folks on this issue up on capitol hill just fits with this larger problem, this vision that the congressional republicans seem to be continually embracing. this notion that, you know, you're just on your own, no matter how unfair things are. you see it in their budget. the budget the republicans in congress just put forward last week. it's like a bad rerun. it would give massive tax cuts to households making more than $1 million a year, force deep cuts to things that actually help working families, like early

lily ledbetter, the name sake of the women's rights bill the president signed back in 2009 has endorsed grimes and put her name on e-mails to donors. ledbetter will be on hand today, boy the way, at the white house as the president signs those executive orders. now, back in washington, the dsec is launching a gop pay gap campaign to attack republicans over the wage issue. make no mistake, the white house is fully involved in this campaign as well. the president has held about half a dozen events focused on women and girls this year. there are several more on economic opportunity. even mentioning equal pay in his state of the union address. all of this is a clear sign the administration is going all in on this issue of closing the wage gap in an attempt to gain some traction before the midterms. the effort hit a bit of a bump on monday when critics brought up a study by a conservative group claiming that the white house had its own wage gap. the administration's own figures show that women staffers make on average $9,000 less than men. now, carney pushed back on monday, insisting that th

in fact, i just left a round table discussion with lily ledbetter who after whom the famous lily ledbetterorking for a federal contractor and a part of her problem was she had no idea for 19 years that she was not receiving equal pay and by the time she found out, the statute of limitations to bring a lawsuit against her employer had lapsed. so we corrected the problem about the statute of limitations by passing the lily ledbetter fair pay act but still far too many women have no idea that they're not receiving equal pay and more importantly, they're afraid to ask because they're afraid of retaliation. another woman said she needed her job. she was a single mom trying to take care of her children, couldn't afford to lose her job because of retaliation from her employer. >> we keep hearing the 77 cent figure, the pay disparity between men and women. but some argue that doesn't really -- it's not apples to apples. look at people in the exact same job the gap is narrower and getting better over time, some cases women are making more than men in the same job. >> well that is actually -- >> the

wants totely, everyone reference lily ledbetter.y are referencing a world that does not exist today in the way it existed then. can we find situations? yes. we probably would have less cases if we had better transparency. then there is the issue of how far we want to go. there's a right to privacy. we want to go further than we do. economists like transparency. is it a political issue? this bill was written so that the democrats are not comfortable with that. independent,who is voted against it because he says it is unworkable. it was structured this way so that republicans and -- democrats could vote yes and republicans would vote no. the republicans would have to stop it in the house and the president could spend the next two months campaigning. that does not serve your interest very well. the reality is, this president is probably paying for an earthquake --praying for and are quick at night so he can avoid reflection on obamacare and the lousy economy. basically women are being used right now, politically. by proposing a law tha

president has tried this week to turn the page with health care by appearing with equal pay advocate lily ledbetter. if that pitch is stalled as he faces questions about paying female staffers at his own white house a median wage of 88 cents on the dollar. >> when it comes to american women, overall, what we've seen over the past five and a half years is less income and more poverty. that's a story senate democrats don't want to talk about. >> democrats, though, are spoiling for paycheck payback in november. as senate republicans today blocked their so-called paycheck fairness bill. >> we're here to fight. i say square your shoulders, put your lipstick on and let's fight another day. >> tough for congress to throw too many stones at the white house. national journal magazine found that in the senate, female republican aides make 86 on the dollar. female democrat aides make 92 cents. >>. >>> a small group of doctors received from medicare from the taxpayer $3 million or more in 2012 payments. an associated press analysis revealed 344 doctors in that group. topping the list was a florida ophthalmolog

. >> now, the woman you see standing next to the president there is lily ledbetter, and she's the womanr tire for 19 years making 40% less than her male co-workers until one of them wrote her an anonymous note exposing her pay gap. the actions build on the fair pay act t

but the trick is discovering you are in an unequal pay situation, the lily ledbetter case was about,resident was trying to address, getting people into a position where they can evaluate how their pay come pares to others? >> correct. i think the challenge the situations where you have two people doing the same job and one is paid less are the minority of the situation. when we look at that. >> they're hard to find. >> they're hard to find. it's not the big reason for the 70 cents on the dollar number as we heard them. >> what are the big explanations for that, that pay gap? >> the two biggest are occupation, industry as you said. those two alone explain about half of the gap. so once you put people in the same occupation, same industry. that gap goes from 23 cents to about, 12 cents. which is what the white house had because people are pretty much in the same job. you have in the statistical bucket, a female social worker making x, silicone valley engineer, male, making something ten times x. those things are turned together. so the real thing, what, would, would the hourly wage be

lily ledbetter is only a procedural part of title 7.can't get too excited about that. >> you brought the actual pen and a piece of living history for us here. >> this is the pen that was given to me by president johnson. >> yeah, so it is an honor, and you're one of the perfect people to reflect on this. soy appreciate your time, clifford alexander, former associate special counsel to president johnson. appreciate it. >>> coming up, i'll be joined by former attorney general of the united states, dick thornberg, for his perspective on this anniversary of the civil rights act. that's straight ahead. and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is a

progress we have made, since the equal pay act passed now 50 years ago including passing the lily ledbetter act thanks again to senator mikulski in 2009 to give more women tools to fight pay discrimination, women's wages not have caught up with the times. across the country today, women still earn 77 cents on the dollar on average to do the exact same work as men. it would take a typical woman until today to earn what a man would earn the same work in this year in 2013. and that difference really adds up. in seattle in my home state last year women earned 73 cents on the dollar. 73 cents on the dollar compared to the male counterparts. that translated to a yearly gap of $16,000 -- $16,346. nationwide, over a typical woman's lifetime pay discrimination amounts to $464,320 in lost wages. that's not just unfair to women, it is bad for our families and it's bad for our economy. at a time when more and more families rely on women's wages to put food on the table or stay in their homes or build a nest egg for retirement or help pay for their children's education, it is absolutely critical that we

lily ledbetter is only a procedural part of title 7.e actual pen and a piece of living history for us here. >> this is the pen that was given to me by president johnson. >> yeah, so it is an honor, and you're one of the perfect people to reflect on this. soy appreciate your time, clifford alexander, former associate special counsel to president johnson. appreciate it. >>> coming up, i'll be joined by former attorney general of the united states, dick thornberg, for his perspective on this anniversary of the civil rights act. that's straight ahead. defiance is in our bones. defiance never grows old. citracal maximum. calcium citrate plus d. highly soluble, easily absorbed. gunderman group is growing. getting in a groove. growth is gratifying. goal is to grow. gotta get greater growth. growth? growth. i just talked to ups. they've got a lot of great ideas. like smart pick ups. they'll only show up when you print a label and it's automatic. we save time and money. time? money? time and money. awesome. awesome! awesome! awesome! awesome! aw

the lily ledbetter case where lily ledbetter was being unpaid unfairly for years -- was being paid unfairly years. unfortunate, there is not a perfect answer that to that question but there are cases out there that show unfair pay for equal work. in terms of coverage for transgender people, that is not an equal pay act. the equal pay act is now 50 years old. it was enacted in 1963 and uses terminology that was consistent with that time. so it speaks about gender discrimination but it does not go beyond that. host: next caller, detroit, michigan on the line for democrats. caller: i am calling because four or five calls before, she said that she had worked in the con fields. she has to be from the south because i am from mississippi and we work in the cotton fields. it was $2.50 per 100 pounds we picked. if we chopped cotton in the morning, we got a lot of gas and you get three dollars per day. not per hour, per day. so we were working -- i left mississippi in the 1970's and it was still going on. in my employment, you can see it is out there. you don't even have the comfort ability factor be

lily ledbetter is only a procedural part of title 7.cited about that. >> you brought the actual pen and a piece of living history for us here. >> this is the pen that was given to me by president johnson. >> yeah, so it is an honor, and you're one of the perfect people to reflect on this. soy appreciate your time, clifford alexander, former associate special counsel to president johnson. appreciate it. >>> coming up, i'll be joined by former attorney general of the united states, dick thornberg, for his perspective on this anniversary of the civil rights act. that's straight ahead. legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up- relieving the pain quickly. try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. sfx: car unlock beep. relieving the pai

unfortunately, everyone wants to reference lily ledbetter.ey are referencing a world that does not exist today in the way it existed then. can we find situations? yes. we probably would have less cases if we had better transparency. then there is the issue of how far we want to go. there's a right to privacy. we want to go further than we do. economists like transparency. is it a political issue? this bill was written so that the democrats are not comfortable with that. one senator, who is independent voted against it because he says it is unworkable. it was structured this way so that republicans and -- democrats could vote yes and republicans would vote no. the republicans would have to stop it in the house and the president could spend the next two months campaigning. that does not serve your interest very well. the reality is, this president is probably paying for an earthquake --praying for and are quick at night so he can avoid reflection on obamacare and the lousy economy. lacking that basically women are being used right now political

important progress we have made since the equal pay act passed now 50 years ago including passing the lily ledbetter act thanks to senator mikulski in 2009 to give more women tools to fight pay diskrill nation, women's wages have not caught up with the times. across the country today, women still earn 77 cents on the dollar on averaged to do the exact same work as men. it would take a typical woman until today to earn what a map would earn the same work in this year, in 20 # 13. that difference adds up. in seattle, in my home state last year, women earned 73 cents on the dollar, 73 cents on the dollar comparedded to the male counterpart. that translated to a gap of $16, 346. nationwide, over a typical women's lifetime, pay discrimination amounts to $464 ,000 in lost wages, that's not just unfair to women, but bad for our families and bad for our economy. at a time when more and more families rely on women's wages to put food on the table or stay in their homes or build a nest egg for retirement or pay for children's education, it is absolutely critical that we do more to eliminate pay discrimination

many of you made know the story of lily ledbetter. she had worked for years for goodyear. she had no idea she was being paid less and an anonymous tipster left her no thread now. one of the other cases were resolved recently a woman who is working as a human resources manager learned that two men who held the same position and actually had smaller caseloads earned more and partly i suspect because of her role in the corporation as a human resources person she was able as you were to piece together some information through the records. she had access on a regular basis and the particular challenge is when a work place actually prohibits people from talking about pay. it subjects them to discipline if they discussed their pay which makes it virtually impossible for a woman employee to know whether they're being paid the same as others in the work place. >> thank you. i want to move to ed montgomery because you have worn different hats. you have been in an administration that had enforcement responsibility but also in academia and you have the perspective of an economist as w

one is that i do think the idea that the paycheck fairness act or the lily ledbetter act are silver bulletshat will close the wage gap. that doesn't live up to reality. we need, like you said, i loved all the solutions that you put forward. >> oh, my liberal utopia that i would build. >> i would build it with you. i also think that they have a point. you know, they have been pushing back on the idea that there is a wage gap. i wouldn't give them that point but i would give them the point that it's complicated and saying that the 77% earnings that women make compared to men is all discrimination is misleading. and i think that that number gets thrown around without a whole lot of context. >> so on the one hand, i want to be able to make that point because it's so important that it's not just the male manager up there, hr manager who's making a decision to pay the little woman less. on the other hand, it doesn't mean that discrimination is gone. it does in fact continue to exist in the workforce. >> exactly. as you mentioned, the power relationship in the workforce, particularly at the positi

he came out of the box with lily ledbetter, helping young woman -- young women to make sure that they are competing for the rest of their lifetime with men in terms of minimum wages. if you look at the people signing up, it is young people overwhelmingly trying to get health care. the struggles have been obama needing momentum. if he had come up with his brothers keeper in the first been shotould have down, spending too much time talking about the birth certificate, race baiting, other stuff that happened the first time that we sort of forgot about but was really prevalent three or four years ago. he isam proud of what doing now. i think you will take this momentum and lead with. host: you're in the field out there during campaigns. maverick tweets -- guest: republicans are not the only ones have -- who have done voter suppression through history, which is important for us all to remember. unfortunately a lot of republican lobbyists have pushed this idea. voter id, birth certificate checks, it hurts their ability to be competitive and we will find a way around it. host: here's a tweet

i would remind you that the first bill the president signed into law was the lily ledbetter bill.that was a long time from any election. the actions that the president is taking this week, the actions that he supports that democratic senators are taking reflect the commitment that he has held and proven his interest in from the very beginning of his time in office. peter. former florida governor jeb bush said something on immigration, basically at those people who come to the country illegally do so because they have no other means to provide for their family. any said what they did is "not a but an act of love and commitment to their family. i honestly think this is a different kind of crime. does the white house think this is a different kind of crime? >> i did not see former governor bush's remarks. but it is clearly the case that -- and i have heard former president bush talk about this, too. and as you know, up -- as you firm george w. bush was a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. in front of republican audiences, talk about how family values do not stop at the ri

when he signed lily ledbetter. >> on the politics of this, let me say what's interesting is if you lookthe polling, this is not just popular with women. it's also popular with men. everybody wants their spouse to get a fair deal. everybody wants their daughter to get a fair deal. and republicans -- the white house feels republicans don't really have a alternative position and really on the defensive on this. a lot where republicans are on the offense. when the white house has got them on he run on this, they're going to be hitting it hard. we're going to hear a lot about it from other democrats right up through the midterms. >> all right. thank you very much. >>> so this weekend i'm at ho home -- >> of course. >> and willie can tell you what i do at home. i'm online. >> i don't think i want to know. >> but i'm sitting there and i'm tweeting about willie and i, what we're going to do. and the twitter explodes. >> really? >> yes. apparently you're at this huge event in manhattan and you're taking off your makeup. >> well, they all do it. >> nobody does that. everybody was like why is she

this is the first thing the president did with the lily ledbetter act.gers as the only gop woman in leadership in either chamber and a concerted effort now. it seems to me you guys could use a little good politics as it pertains to women, especially given the last presidential election. >> well, on the politics, i disagree on the timing. i think that we have seen since the president has been in white house, they controlled the house, they controlled the senate, they controlled the white house and they did not do this. instead what we see is this creeps up every time the democrats are struggling with their messaging. when obamacare is really struggling, when the economy is really struggling, that's when all of a sudden they shift and they have this war on women. >> this isn't about obamacare. >> i'm not saying this is about obamacare. i'm saying when the democrats have nothing to talk to the voters about, they tend to talk about this and it's unfortunate because we want to have this conversation and this is a good conversation to have and transparency is

a bill that addresses the injustice that led to lilly ledbetter being paid less simply for being a woman for 19 years. lili'scompany used pay superstate, the threat of retaliation as an important policy to persist. if you cannot find out how much a reverse -- if you cannot find out how much others are earning, you cannot find out how much you are being discriminated against. lilly had to wait 19 years. the lilly ledbetter act empowers women to file claims. we cannot stop there. we hope that congress will do their part. the president is taking two new executive actions tomorrow to combat this challenge and strengthen enforcement of equal pay laws. the first is that he will sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss compensation. he knows that pay secrecy fosters discrimination and we should not tolerate that and federal contracting. he will also sign a presidential memorandum instructing the secretary of labor to establish requiringendations federal contractors to submit to the department of labor summary data on compensation paid to employees. race.

ledbetter who is awesome. >> tell me about it. >> earlier before the event, we did a round table in the executive office building with lily.oman next to her, her name is amanda. she waits tables at night. she goes to school. she has an incredible story of trying to fix her situation of equal pay and discrimination in the workplace. they're stories when you hear them a little bit later, you'll understand why this was at least to this church revival of a room, 300 women really excited about what was happening. this conversation will prove it. >> it really is exciting. and mike was near the president. and the president making it more partisan than it should have been. my mother a driving influence in my life. i'm kind of like donny, people that ran my camp, i had women run my campaign. i had women for the most part run my congressional office. i always stand if you want people to stand around and talk about what should be done, hire a man. if you want people to get stuff done, hire a woman. you know that, too. this is generalization, women are task-driven. egos. we all have egos. willie doesn't. you and i have big evening goe

the law that bears her name, the lily ledbetter fair pay act was a huge step in the right direction, but today more than 50 years after we passed the equal pay act -- imagine 50 years ago we thought we dealt with this, the equal pay act. and five years after we passed the lily ledbetter pay fair act we still have work to do to make sure women are actually receiving equal pay for equal work. it was a great day when the lilly ledbetter fair pay act became the very first bill president barack obama signed inta into law after he took office and i want to thank the president for today signing two executive orders that will help protect the employees of federal contractors from pay discrimination. as the president has said, he doesn't want his daughters or anyone's daughters to be paid less just because they are women. i agree. i know the presiding officer does as well. now we must do our part here in the senate to make sure that all americans have the tools they need to protect themselves from this form of discrimination and hold those responsible accountable. this is not about special pr

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 ledbe