Okay, I'm going to cry, (happy cry)

[TayTay]

The Senate is passing a Motion to Proceed on S. 181m, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This is one of the bills that was filibustered last year.

No, it has not passed the Senate yet. I hope that will come later on. But damn, it's there, it's going to be discussed and I think it will pass.

Thank you again to everyone who worked so hard in the last election. Once again, it mattered. It mattered a lot.

http://www.civilrights.org/action_center/lilly-ledbetter-fair-pay.html

http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/employ/38331prs20090114.html?s_src=RSS

And an interview with Lilly Ledbetter from TAP: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=tap_talks_with_lilly_ledbetter

[TayTay]

1. Filibuster broken, 72-23

Damn, now it looks easy.

This one meant a lot to me. Equal pay for equal work should be a bedrock principle of our country. It should not be set aside for a technicality. There are generations of women who were told that this issue didn't really matter. They were working for "pin money" and that they should not be judged as seriously as the male co-workers who were the main breadwinners in their families.

Equal pay for equal work. Not special rights, the same rights. That is the American Way.

[karynnj]

3. Beautifully said

It is mindboggling to me that that is being voted on now in 2009.

I thought, in 1972, when I joined the workforce that this was a relic of the past or soon would be. That was a time where companies were making real efforts on affirmative action. How new it was could be seen with the fact that they had to correct previous discrimination - because there were very weird inequalities that could be seen where young college graduate women were brought in on the same track as the young male graduates and a year later they had a more prestigious title than some senior women, with far greater accomplishments and education - which reflected the real discrimination of these women versus their male peers. (There was a mass upgrade for many of these women around the time I came in.)

[YvonneCa]

5. I was one of them. I 'accidentally' found out that a male...

...co-worker I was training was making more (a lot more) than I was, and he was a new hire. When I brought it up to my supervisor, I was told that it was because he had a family to support (he did) and that I didn't... and I bought it. I was young and naive. I have since learned better. :7


This is GREAT news. Thanks for posting it.

[ladym55]

9. You got that, too???

That was a regular argument for huge pay discrepancies where I worked in the 1980s. And it made NO sense, especially since some of the women in question were single moms whose husbands had dumped them for younger and hotter. And child support back then was a joke and a half. So the men drove their new cars home to their lovely suburban homes where their stay-at-home wives went to PTA. The women drove their clunkers home to their apartments.

I hate that this has taken so long and we are still fighting the same fights we fought in my 20s. But I'm SO glad it passed today. HOORAY!!!!!

[TayTay]

10. It has not passed yet.

The vote today was: "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to S.181."

In normal people terms, the Senate tried a vote to see if they could move this legislation forward. It worked. The legislation in the form of S. 181 was submitted to the Senate on January 8th. Objection was expected. Soooooo, a cloture motion was filed on Jan 13th that meant a vote would take place to see if this piece of legislation could go forward.

The Motion to Proceed is what passed today. The bill will go forward and will need a simple majority to pass the US Senate. (Not 60 votes as would have happened had it been filibustered.)

S. 181 will now go on the legislative calendar and be voted on without the obstructions and games of last session. Given the vote today, it should also overwhelmingly pass.

But it has not passed yet. I want to make that clear. The new Senate is testing the sides and figuring out where the votes are going to be on key pieces of legislation. Now we know on this one. Expect passage. Today was a very good day.

[YvonneCa]

11. No, it didn't (and doesn't) make...

...sense. But it WAS very prevalent. My situation was during the 70's and early 80's (before I went back and finished college and got smarter :7 ).

It is GREAT that it passed today. I join you in HOORAY!!!!!!

On edit...I just saw TayTay's post...my hooray will be for PROGRESS, for now. And I am confident it will eventually pass.;)

[Inuca]

2. Shoulder here :-)

It's nice, isn't it? I was half listening to the Holder hearing while doing some easy work, and in spite of everything I kept telling myself pretty much the same thing. Yes, it DID matter.

Best! :hug:

[sandnsea]

4. I felt that way on the Lands bill

One of those things that is in my heart. Passing the equal pay bill is just like icing on the cake. Then they passed SCHIP, which is going to make it an entitlement, right? I think I'm one of those adults who gets my subsidy because of the Oregon waiver. Huge sigh of relief.

Yes this election mattered A LOT.

:hug:

[politicasista]

6. ...

:grouphug: :hi:

[paulk]

7. there was a big thread the other day in GD/P

which was basically a rehashing of the old "no difference between the parties" crap that cost us the election in 2000.

This bill (and others like SCHIP) are the very real results of Democratic control of both the executive and legislative branches of our government.

Things can only get better...

[karynnj]

8. This will be a good thread to simply post on every one of those "no difference" posts

There is a huge difference between what will pass now and what passed in the intensely dysfunctional 109th Congress (2005 - 2006)

I know the moment when I knew for a fact that I could not fail to vote for President even if the candidate that I didn't like or trust won was when Bush vetoed S-CHIP. I knew that none of the Democratic possibilities would ever veto something like S-CHIP and most Republicans might.

This doesn't mean that we should all become silent followers, that would even hurt Obama. Even when our position may be further to the left than his - he will benefit from the continued energy and passion for issues. (That assumes of course that the differences remain on the issues and not personal attacks.)