Some fodder for 2302 as we get ready to plunge into the legislature. Story in the NYT, here's the vote, largely party line. The name of the bill is the Paycheck Fairness Act.
The bill would have amended a key piece of New Deal legislation: the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The FLSA established the minimum wage and overtime pay, and prohibited child labor. It applied to individual who were engaged in commerce or the production of good for commerce (note the constitutional justification). The act has been amended heavily, but the most important amendment was added in 1963 when the Equal Pay Act was amended to the original bill. It made it illegal to pay workers lower wages due to gender.
The purpose of the bill was to make it easier for women to investigate whether they are being paid unequally, which allows them to pursue a claim of discrimination. It also made it easier for women to take cases to court. From the NYT story:
Tuesday’s bill sought to bar companies from retaliating against workers who inquire about pay disparities and open pathways for female employees to sue for punitive damages in cases of paycheck discrimination.
We can use this story to discuss a variety of matters related to the class.
- the ideological differences between conservatives - who do not like restrictions on business and tend to be suspicious about claims of discrimination - especially when they involve lawsuits - and liberals - who prioritze equality among all other values and often seek to increase access to the courts as ways of redressing claims of discrimination.
- it allows us a peek at the bill making process (click here for detail on the bill - from Thomas).
- we can see the filibuster in action - or at least what passes for filibusters today. Senate procedures, as they exist today, require 60 votes for bills to be considered on the floor of the chamber. This is a supermajority and empowers a minority. They can't get things passed, but they can make it impossible for anyone else do either. The bill only received 52 votes, just a mere simple majority. There have been many such votes recently, which leads to questions about the viability of the current Senate.
- the vote was almost party line. All Republicans votes against bringing it to the floor. All but one Democrats voted in favor of it. This helps bolster the case that parties are increasingly polarized.
- and since its an election year there is speculation that Democrats only brought this up - knowing that it would be filibustered - to put Republicans on the record as being opposed to equal pay. Perhaps this becomes an election issue.
