As a United States Senator, I’m fighting for jobs today and jobs tomorrow.  I am on the side of a fair economy, and I am on the side of good guy and gal businesses.  We need an economy that works for everyone, and works for the American family.  But that means equal pay for equal work, and that is exactly why I am leading the charge on the Paycheck Fairness Act in the United States Senate.

Women make this country run – we are business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians, mothers and more.   We also bring home a growing share of the family pocketbook, as evidenced by a recent White House report, Women in America. But we earn just 78 cents for every dollar our male counterparts make, and women of color earn even less.  Inexplicably, these disparities exist across all levels of education and occupation.  In my home state of Maryland, the average woman with a bachelor’s degree earns as much as the average male high school graduate.  This is unacceptable, and with many Americans earning less and operating on smaller family budgets, the issue of pay equity is being felt now more than ever.

Last Congress, I introduced the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  The day that President Obama signed this bill into law—the first of his presidency – was an important day for women and for fair pay.  The Ledbetter Act returned the law to the way it was before the Ledbetter v Goodyear decision, allowing employees who have been discriminated against to sue employers based on each discriminating paycheck, and not the date of hiring.  This was a major victory.  It kept the courthouse door open and allowed plaintiffs to pursue a claim on its merits.

“The Paycheck Fairness Act” picks up where we left off with Ledbetter.  Enactment of this legislation will mean real progress in the fight to eliminate the gender wage gap and help families.  It has the teeth that are needed to keep discrimination from happening in the first place, and makes the consequences tougher. The bill ensures that employers who try to justify paying a man more than a woman for the same job must show the disparity is not sex-based – but job related and necessary.  It prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who discuss or disclose salary information with their co-workers. The bill would also make it easier for women to file class-action lawsuits against employers they accuse of sex-based pay discrimination.  And it strengthens the available remedies to include punitive and compensatory damages, thus bringing equal pay law in line with all other civil rights law.  The bottom line is that this bill ensures that women are treated fairly in the workplace, something that is a matter of basic equality and civil rights.

So this Equal Pay Day, let’s recommit to closing the wage gap.  As a Senator, my priority is and has always been jobs, jobs, jobs, and continuing the effort for pay equality is the way to ensure that this economy works for us all and is fair to everyone.  I believe people should be judged by their individual skills, competence, unique talents and nothing else, and once you get that job because of your skills and talents, you better get equal pay for equal work.

It is my hope that one day, there will be no need for an Equal Pay Day – that every year, women earn the same as men.  Until then, we join together, press on, and push for passage of this important legislation, so that for all victims of pay discrimination, there is a new day ahead.