There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having the woman of your life come home from an exhausting day at work, collapse on the couch with her iPad to see the news of the day, and have her say, “Oh for Christ’s sake. I would like to know why the government doesn’t think I am entitled to equal pay.” Because, yes, the Senate was unable to overcome a Republican filibuster of the Paycheck Fairness Act of 2012 today. Every Republican voted against cloture and every Democrat voted for it. Majority Leader Harry Reid changed his vote from yes to no for procedural reasons. In the past, some of the women in the Republican caucus supported this bill, but not today. Not even the retiring Olympia Snowe showed any sisterly solidarity.
And the Republicans will deny that they’re waging any kind of War on Women. They’ll say that the introduction of this bill was a political stunt. But it’s only a stunt because the Republicans won’t pass it. “Why do the Democrats keep introducing bills that they know we will filibuster?”
For the record, 53% of the Senate supported the bill. So it failed. That’s our modern democracy in action.
