Today, April 12th, is Equal Pay Day, the moment in the 2016 calendar year when women’s earnings have finally caught up to what men earned in 2015. Despite President Obama’s historic Lilly Ledbetter Pay Act, the gender pay gap persists – in part because House Republicans like Erik Paulsen have continually blocked consideration of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help address wage discrimination.
Paulsen also voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, calling fair pay lawsuits “frivolous” and siding with those poor corporations who are now rightfully getting sued for paying women less.
According to a new report from the Joint Economic Committee, the pay gap in Minnesota’s 3rd District is 22.4%, affecting not only working women in Minnesota, but also their families. Working women contribute as much as 40 percent of a family’s total earnings; American families depend on women’s paychecks. Closing the gender pay gap would cut the poverty rate among single-mother-led households by as much as half.
And simply put, when women make more, women spend more – so Erik Paulsen, by refusing to consider the Paycheck Fairness Act and opposing Lilly Ledbetter, is hurting Minnesota’s economy.
“This Equal Pay Day, Erik Paulsen owes an explanation to the women of Minnesota’s 3rd District, who still make 78 cents for every dollar a man earns,” said Sacha Haworth of the DCCC. “By opposing legislation that ensures equal pay for equal work, Erik Paulsen is perpetuating the gender pay gap, which is hurting women, their families, and Minnesota’s economy.”