Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) in marking Equal Pay Day and reintroducing the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and guarantee that women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable.

“This bill ensures that women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable. On average, women in Connecticut earn only 82 cents for every dollar a man in the same job makes, with the gap being worse for women of color. Smaller paychecks for equal work means less money to buy groceries and medicine, pay for college, or save for retirement. We need the Paycheck Fairness Act because it’s time to level the playing field, and close the gap so women can finally earn equal pay for equal work,” said Blumenthal.

“It’s outrageous that we’re still debating equal pay for equal work. It’s 2017, and women in Connecticut are still making only 82 cents for every dollar men make in their lifetimes,” said Murphy. “In circumstances involving discrimination, information is power. It’s time for my Republican colleagues to wake up and help us make the Paycheck Fairness Act the law of the land.”

Equal Pay Day symbolizes the date when women’s wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous year. Despite making up half the workforce, more than five decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, American women still make only 80 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by a man. The gap is even wider for women of color, with African American women making 63 cents on the dollar, and Hispanic women making only 54 cents, on average, compared with white men.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen and close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by holding employers accountable for discriminatory practices, ending the practice of pay secrecy, easing workers’ ability to individually or jointly challenge pay discrimination, and strengthening the available remedies for wronged employees. The House legislation was introduced by Congresswoman DeLauro and has 198 cosponsors.

Other original Senate cosponsors include Senators Schumer (D-NY), Durbin (D-IL), Menendez (D-NJ), Coons (D-DE), Brown (D-OH), Udall (D-NM), Casey (D-PA), Baldwin (D-WI), Van Hollen (D-MD), Shaheen (D-NH), Gillibrand (D-NY), Klobuchar (D-MN), Markey (D-MA), Hirono (D-HI), Feinstein (D-CA), Manchin (D-WV), Heinrich (D-NM), Leahy (D-VT), Booker (D-NJ), Reed (D-RI), Sanders (I-VT), Warren (D-MA), Stabenow (D-MI), Carper (D-DE), Whitehouse (D-RI), McCaskill (D-MO), Cantwell (D-WA), Franken (D-MN), Warner (D-WA), Harris (D-CA), Nelson (D-FL), Wyden (D-OR), Kaine (D-VA), Hassan (D-NH), Merkley (D-OR), Tester (D-MT), Duckworth (D-IL), and Bennet (D-CO).

###