House passes equal pay bill, but it's likely to stall in the Senate
The House narrowly approved legislation aimed at closing the gender wage gap on Thursday, but the bill is expected to stall in the evenly divided Senate, where it faces Republican opposition.
The Paycheck Fairness Act passed largely along party lines with a vote of 217 to 210. The bill, which is supported by the Biden administration, would make it easier to sue employers over pay discrimination, strengthen prohibitions against retaliation against workers who make discrimination complaints, increase penalties for wage discrimination on the basis of gender and ban contracts that bar workers from sharing their salaries.
"This pandemic has brought out the depth of our problems, exposed existing inequalities, and threatened women's economic security at a disproportionate rate," said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, the House Appropriations Committee chair and a lead sponsor of the bill, in a speech on the House floor ahead of the vote.
Democrats say there's more work to be done to close the wage gap between men and women. In 2019, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings that were 82% of what men who were full-time wage and salary workers were earning, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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