The Breakdown: Why Did the GOP Block the Paycheck Fairness Act?

The Breakdown: Why Did the GOP Block the Paycheck Fairness Act?

The Breakdown: Why Did the GOP Block the Paycheck Fairness Act?

Women still earn 77 cents on a man’s dollar for full-time work. The Paycheck Fairness Act would have helped remedy that unequal pay. On this week’s The Breakdown, the Center for American Progress’s Heather Boushey joins Christopher Hayes to talk about why Republican senators blocked the bill.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

The Paycheck Fairness Act would help remedy unequal pay for women. On this week’s The Breakdown, the Center for American Progress’s Heather Boushey joins Christopher Hayes to talk about why Republican senators blocked the bill.

The Breakdown On November 17th, the GOP blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate.  On average, today women earn 77 cents to their male counterpart’s dollar in the workplace.  The Paycheck Fairness Act would have helped remedy that unequal pay. It was viewed by many as an uncontroversial law, which causes many to question if this first substantial bill out of the lame duck Congress serves as a preview of the difficult session to come.  On this week’s segment of the Breakdown, DC Editor Chris Hayes discusses what the Act is and why the GOP chose to block it with Senior Economist at the Center for American Progress Heather Boushey.

Related Links

Heather Boushey’s bio at Center for American Progress.

Boushey’s article for Slate on why the Senate should pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Denise DiStephan writes on TheNation.com about what the demise of the Paycheck Fairness Act means for women.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x