Will the GOP regret blocking equal pay for women?
Republican senators unanimously shoot down an equal-pay bill, a vote that the GOP might come to rue in November
![Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/j9J2P9NvjiTB8A5CDrmAPA-415-80.jpg)
This week, Senate Republicans voted to block Democratic legislation designed to reduce the persistent pay gap between genders in the workplace. The bill would boost protections for women filing gender-discrimination lawsuits, and put the onus on employers to prove that wage disparities between men and women (who typically earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns) are not gender-related. Democrats say the law is needed, but some see the bill as an electoral strategy to persuade voters that Republicans are waging a "War on Women." The GOP says the bill would only lead to a job-killing flood of litigation against businesses. Will the GOP regret that stance?
Yes. The GOP just gave Democrats a gift: Democrats see the vote as a "golden opportunity to strengthen their advantage with women voters ahead of the election," says Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo. Republicans did their best to cast the vote as a political stunt, so they won't "be seen as rooting against the cause of equal pay." But their unanimous opposition paints the party as a relic of the past, still struggling with women's issues. Female voters will take notice.
"Republicans block Dems' equal pay for women bill"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
No. Voters will see through this election-year ploy: "Three cheers for the Senate filibuster," says The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Democrats are playing partisan games with this utterly unnecessary bill: After all, the U.S. already has plenty of laws prohibiting gender-pay discrimination. Furthermore, the bill "ought to be called the 'Trial Lawyer Paycheck Act,' since it is a recipe for a class-action boom" that will hurt business profits and reduce pay across the board. This type of overreaching legislation "is precisely the reason that voters elected more Republicans in 2010."
"The trial lawyer paycheck act"
Actually, more gender-discrimination suits are needed: Republicans argue that the bill would lead to an "unnecessary and soul-crushing number of lawsuits against employers," but the country actually needs far more pay-gap suits, says Bryce Covert at Forbes. Studies "have found no other way to explain at least some of the gap than discrimination," and yet the number of gender-discrimination cases are falling. Only last year, the Supreme Court "knocked down a suit against Walmart, handing down a decision that makes it even harder to bring these cases." In the "face of a gap that is only getting worse, it would seem the number of cases could stand to get a boost."
"Republicans are wrong: We need more equal pay litigation, not less"
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Did Kamala Harris kill brat?
Talking Point Pop culture phenomenon co-opted by presidential candidate sparks claims brat is over
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published
-
Paris Olympics: will it be a success?
Today's Big Question Organisers hope the 'spectacle' of the 2024 Games will lift the cloud of negativity that has hung over the build-up
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 20 - 26 July
Puzzles and Quizzes Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published