Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 126.

Madam Chair, I rise today in support of this amendment.

This amendment to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act includes language of a bill that I am proud to be an original cosponsor of called the Abby Honold Act.

Abby is a constituent of mine, a former student at the University of Minnesota. A survivor of sexual assault, she has been a fierce champion of this initiative and was the driving force behind this legislation that bears her name.

I want to make sure that my colleagues support this amendment on behalf of the thousands of victims who experience trauma. This is a key part of their recovery process and a crucial response to the immediate aftermath.

Madam Chair, I am honored to rise today to speak on H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act. I am proud to be part of a Congress that is finally taking action to close the gender pay gap. After so many years of inaction on this issue when our Republican colleagues were in the majority, I think it is fair to say that it is about time.

It is hard to imagine that, in this day and age, women could be paid less than a man for doing the same job. But it happens, and it happens often. Statistics show that pay disparity isn't a thing of the past; it is happening today. It isn't just holding women back; it is amplifying racial inequalities across the country.

We often hear the statistics that say women make 80 cents to every dollar that is paid to a man, but those figures are often worse for women of color. Black women are making only 61 cents on the dollar. For Latina women, that is 53 cents. For Native American women, it is 58 cents. Clearly, the pay gap is compounded by a racial gap.

It should be obvious to all of us that this problem extends beyond the workplace.

Madam Chair, you see the impact everywhere you look around our society. Women of color are less likely to have healthcare coverage. They are more likely to experience hunger. They are less likely to own a home or be fully prepared for retirement.

At the end of the day, those pennies on the dollar add up, and that loss of income is putting women of color at a serious disadvantage.

The Paycheck Fairness Act will take aggressive action to remedy these inequalities and tear down the economic barriers that women of color face. It will do that, in part, by ensuring the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has the information it needs to detect pay discrimination and to identify those additional cross-section biases.

Madam Chair, I am proud to introduce an amendment with my colleague, Representative Beyer from Virginia, that will ensure that the major employers are required to report that information to that commission. That will go a long way to finally ending the systemic barriers that women and women of color face in this country.

I thank Chair Scott and Chair DeLauro. I am really excited to be part of this change-making Congress.

I include in the Record a letter from the NAACP in support of this legislation.

Washington Bureau, National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People,

Washington, DC, March 25, 2019.

Re: NAACP Strong support for the immediate passage of H.R. 7,

the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Honorable,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Representative: On behalf of the NAACP, our nation's

oldest, largest and most widely-recognized grassroots-based

civil rights organization, I strongly urge you to support and

vote in favor of H.R. 7, the Paycheck Fairness Act. This

critical legislation would update and strengthen the Equal

Pay Act of 1963, which mandated that employers pay equal

wages to men and women who perform substantially the same

work. The Paycheck Fairness Act closes loopholes in the Equal

Pay Act which have diluted its effectiveness in combating

unfair and unequal pay. While the Equal Pay Act has helped to

narrow the wage gap between men and women in our workforce,

significant disparities remain and must be addressed.

Especially in today's economy, more women work outside of

the home and their paycheck is a necessary part of their

households' resources. Yet all too often women are forced to

raise their families on incomes lower than that of male

colleagues performing the same jobs. According to 2018 data,

women in the United States are typically paid 80 cents for

every dollar paid to men. The median annual pay for a woman

who holds a full-time, year-round job is $41,977 while the

median annual pay for a man who holds a full-time, year-round

job is $52,146--a difference of $10,169 per year. The

statistics are even worse for women of color. African-

American women make only 61 cents, and Hispanic women only 53

cents, for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men.

These gaps translate into a loss of almost $24,000 a year for

African-American women and almost $28,500 annually for

Hispanic women.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is a responsible, steady yet

aggressive bill. It will help remedy this inequity and close

this unacceptable gap. In short, the legislation will protect

women and families across America by: protecting against

retaliation for discussing salaries with colleagues;

prohibiting employers from screening job applicants based on

their salary history or requiring salary history during the

interview and hiring process; requiring employers to prove

that pay disparities exist for legitimate, job-related

reasons; providing plaintiffs who file sex-based wage

discrimination claims under the Equal Pay Act with the same

remedies as are available to plaintiffs who file race- or

ethnicity-based wage discrimination claims under the 1964

Civil Rights Act; removing obstacles in the Equal Pay Act to

facilitate plaintiffs' participation in class action lawsuits

that challenge systemic pay discrimination; and creating a

negotiation skills training program for women and girls.

I again urge you to do all you can to see that this

important legislation is enacted as quickly as possible so

that women can begin to have some parity for a day's work.

This in turn will help hard working American women, their

children and their families gain the economic stability they

deserve. Please support the Paycheck Fairness Act and work to

eliminate this unacceptable gap in pay.

Sincerely,

Hilary O. Shelton,

Director, NAACP Washington Bureau & Senior Vice President

for Policy and Advocacy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the 26th day of what is now the longest running government shutdown in history, a shutdown which is nothing more than a manufactured crisis designed to distract us from the instability and dysfunction that rules the Trump White House.

Trump has orchestrated this shutdown because he is looking for someone else to blame for the ineffectiveness of his administration. He wants to point to us here in Congress and claim that we are the reason he is failing to lead this country.

But that blame, Madam Speaker, belongs to Trump--and Trump only. He singlehandedly forced seven agencies to stop their crucial work, work that impacts the health and safety of every American.

Soon, millions of people could start to go hungry as the government runs out of money to fund nutritional assistance through the SNAP program.

Thousands could face eviction and become homeless as HUD becomes unable to deliver desperately needed housing assistance.

Federal courts could shut down.

Our aviation system could come to a halt as flights are grounded.

And the list, Madam Speaker, goes on and on.

But even before this shameful shutdown began, the executive branch agencies were already struggling to operate under Trump's leadership, or the lack thereof. As of today, there are more than 200 critical agency positions for which Trump has failed to even put forward a nominee. That is more than 200 agencies, offices, and programs that are operating without defined leadership, full staff, or resources.

Consequently, even once we are able to end this debilitating shutdown, our Federal Government will still be operating at less than full capacity so long as we have an ineffective, ego-driven President at the helm.

As Members of Congress, we took an oath to put the people of this country first, to protect their rights, safety, and well-being. That is why we, here in the House, voted on day one of this Congress, and nearly every day since, to reopen this government.

The President took a similar oath, and it is time that he honor it because, Madam Speaker, the American people deserve better.

The 400,000 furloughed Federal employees deserve better, including the 6,000 workers in my district, alone, who are currently wondering how they are going to pay their rent at the first of the month and if they are able to afford simple necessities like childcare and food. They deserve better.

If the President wants to have a real conversation about border security, we are ready to have it. We can talk about finding a solution to our broken immigration system and how to adopt policies that extend humanity and compassion to migrants and refugees.

Every day, families are fleeing violence and untold hardships in countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. These people are running from situations that are so brutal, that most Americans, thankfully, could not comprehend, but as a refugee from Somalia, I do. So I invite the President to engage in a real conversation with Congress on immigration.

If he wants, we can talk about the $2 million the Guatemalan Government paid to D.C. lobbyists and how our government is cozying up to corrupt regimes in that country.

If he is interested, we could also talk about the U.S. funding and training for Honduras security forces that are involved in serious human rights violations and how these policies that we support are forcing people to flee from their homeland.

If he wants to talk, we are ready to talk, but we don't need a government shutdown to do it.

I join the similar calls made by my colleagues today, and I demand that the President end his temper tantrum and quest for a racist and cynical big wall, and I demand that he work with us to reopen the government before any more damage is done.

Enough is enough. The American people deserve better.

Madam Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 4.