You Really Can Say “Filibuster”

CNN waits until the fourth paragraph to indicate what’s really going on: Senate Republicans block unequal pay bill

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Senate Republicans blocked a bill Wednesday that would make it easier for people to sue over pay discrimination, an effort to roll back a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that limited such cases.

Republicans complained that the bill would produce a flood of lawsuits and criticized the chamber’s Democratic leaders for putting off the vote until the party’s two presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, returned from the campaign trail.

“Here we are, shut down on a Wednesday afternoon, no action in the Senate, in order to accommodate the Democratic candidates for president’s schedule,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Wednesday.

Though several Republicans joined Democrats in voting to break the filibuster, the 56-42 vote was four short of the needed 60.

McConnell urged senators to block the bill and stick with a debate on a veterans benefits bill pending in the Senate. But Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada blamed Republicans for stalling action on that bill to complain about the equal pay bill.

“I have trouble understanding how my friend would have the gall to stand on the floor and make the comment he did, but he did,” Reid said. He joined Republicans on the vote, a tactical move that allowed him to request the measure be reconsidered.

You don’t need 60 votes to pass a bill in the Senate, but you need 60 votes for cloture of the debate to have a vote on the bill. The Republicans should be forced to actually hold the floor.

While we’re looking at the bill, it doesn’t make it “easier” to sue, all it does is give people time to sue if they experience pay discrimination. The Supreme Court ruled that you must sue within 180 days of receiving the first discriminatory paycheck. It may take a long time to find out you are being discriminated against, because newly hired people don’t receive the same pay as others at a company and most companies don’t want employees talking about their pay. You still have to provide the same level of proof, but the bill would give you the time to do it.