OK, we’ve already established that Democrats understand that there are, in fact, reasons why there can be a pay gap. The White House suggested that there are “varying degrees of seniority” as to why women are paid less, on average, than men working in the White House. Democrats at a crosspost at Right Wing News exposed that they understand the issue. Democrats have even said the Paycheck Fairness Act is simply a shiny object. If they really thought it was important, they would have brought it to the floor soon after it was announce over a month ago. Oh, and let’s not forget that under the PFA, Democrats, who have been shown to pay women less, would have to pay them the same, regardless of seniority or any other reasons
(The Hill) The White House and congressional Democrats on Monday launched a full-fledged public-relations blitz in support of a paycheck-fairness measure in advance of a key Senate vote on Tuesday.
President Obama, directly inserting himself into the Capitol Hill debate over pay discrepancies between men and women, joined other Democrats in urging the Senate to move forward on a bill that he said would both promote fairness and help the economy.
And with Senate Republicans widely expected to block the paycheck measure on Tuesday, Obama also signaled that Democrats are ready and willing to use that vote against the GOP as both sides hunt for support from women this campaign season.
“Women are the breadwinners for a lot of families, and if they’re making less than men do for the same work, families are going to have to get by for less money for childcare and tuition and rent; small businesses have fewer customers,†Obama said on a Monday conference call. “Everybody suffers.â€
Yet, the Obama White House pays women around $11,000 less a year on average than men. Shame on them! Even though there are perhaps valid reasons for the pay disparity. Doesn’t matter. They’ll have to pay women the same, as will Democrats in Congress. Unless they exempt themselves. And let’s not forget that this would also mean that women could not be paid more than men, even if they have, say, more seniority.
And it’s just a shiny distraction meant to prop up the phony GOP war on women
In late April The Hill reported that bringing the Paycheck Fairness Act to the floor was a Democratic ploy to put GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on the defensive with women voters.
Women should be insulted in the manner that Democrats are patronizing women, as well as the notion that women can only succeed with the help of the Central Government.
Then there’s this
Furthermore, this was designed to fix a problem, that for all practical purposes doesn’t exist. (I’m not saying that some women aren’t discriminated against. Some women are. Some men are. Heck, we had a big discussion on being discriminated against because of weight a while back. But, no one wants to bring out the scales at annual increase time.) CONSAD Research Corp did an indepth analysis of the effect of gender on pay in 2009. It turns out that almost all the differences can explained by choice. From the forward by the Department of Labor.
1. A greater percentage of women than men tend to work part-time.
2. A greater percentage of women than men tend to leave the labor force for child birth, child care and elder care…
3. Women, especially working mothers, tend to value “family friendly” workplace policies more than men…
It’s easy to say “hey, women see pay discrimination in the workplace.” Once we get beyond the actual sound bites, the reality is different.
There are very few people that are against people being paid independent of their gender. (Unless you are Pelosi and Obama.)
But this bill is another boondoggle for lawyers. Companies will now have to justify pay increases to people and have some third party who ha not worked in their industry make a decision on whether people were treated “fairly.” (Not treated the same – “fairly.”)
The bill requires more records to be kept longer by the business which of course increases costs.
In other words, this is a perfect Democratic bill: it does nothing, it gives lawyers more reasons to sue and it raises the costs for businesses.
Exactly right.
And the funny part is that they added poison pills to make sure it would be defeated so they can push their phony war on women meme, yet the news died out quickly since they scheduled it on the same day as the Wisconsin elections.