Why We Need 60

It's the magic number -- 60. You need 60 votes in the Senate to stop a filibuster. You need 60 votes to override a presidential veto. You need 60 votes to GET ANYTHING DONE in the Senate. The Democrats don't have 60 votes. So what we have is the most obstructionist Senate in history.

The National Women's Law Center reports:

On Wednesday, the Senate voted on a motion to advance the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a key bill that would have a major impact on the lives of women who’ve been subject to pay discrimination. While we didn’t get the 60 votes necessary to move to the next big step — scheduling a debate and vote on the bill itself — the fight isn’t over. Tell your Senators the bill deserves fair consideration on the Senate floor.

Women in the United States are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. For women of color, the numbers are even worse - African American women earn 63 cents and Latinas earn 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

Equal Pay Day - the point in 2008 when the average woman's wages finally catch up with what the average man earned in 2007 - was Tuesday, April 22. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would have given all employees a better shot at a fair workplace, making it easier to ensure justice for those who have been discriminated against based on sex, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and age.

The New York Times wrote:

...[T]he bill would re-establish that the deadline for making a charge of pay discrimination under Title VII runs from when a worker receives unequal pay, not from the day a company first decided to discriminate, as the Supreme Court wrongly insisted.

Many employers keep salaries and raises confidential, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg aptly noted in her dissent in the Ledbetter case. By making it clear that the 180-day clock restarts with each discriminatory paycheck, the act avoids rewarding employers that obscure lower raises given on the basis of such considerations as gender or race.

Far from eliminating the current statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination claims, as some opponents claim, it merely restores a reasonable notion of when the clock starts running. The House approved the same measure in July, but it remains to be seen whether enough Republican votes can be mustered to overcome a filibuster threat in the Senate.

The act’s defeat would please the Bush White House and the United States Chamber of Commerce. It would be a significant civil rights setback.

Take a look at how the Senate voted, and you will see why we need more Democrats in Congress. If you are not working on a campaign, sign up to do so TODAY.