Hoyer: Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act

April 14 was Equal Pay Day, marking the additional number of days women worked this year for the same amount of money as men make.

The White House calculates that full-time working women earn 77 percent of their male counterparts. The Pew Research Center has found that rate to be as high as 84 percent when part-time workers are included, and for young women the gap may have reached only 7 percent; women earning 93 percent of their male counterparts.

But still, although efforts are succeeding at closing the gap, it is not yet enough, according to Congressman Steny Hoyer.

“Today, on Equal Pay Day, we rededicate ourselves to the task of ensuring that working men and women have equal access to the opportunities that allow them to achieve the American Dream.  It is reprehensible that women in America earn, on average, only 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man with the same education and experience in a comparable job. We must work together to correct this injustice.  This is not only unfair to the working women who are shortchanged – it also impacts the families they help support with their wages.  With more women serving as the primary breadwinners in American households, the wage gap is a challenge that adversely affects millions of men and children as well.

“Achieving equal pay for women continues to be one of the top priorities of House Democrats, and as Majority Leader in 2009 I was proud to work with my colleagues to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Now it is time for us to build on that progress by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was reintroduced this March and of which I am proud to be an original cosponsor.  I continue to urge House and Senate Republican to work with Democrats to advance this legislation that will help close the wage gap once and for all.”