Congress Sends Fair Pay Bill to Obama
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
President Obama plans to sign into law Thursday the first legislation of his White House tenure, reversing a recent Supreme Court ruling that had restricted the ability of women and other workers to sue for pay discrimination.
Congress enacted the measure today with a lopsided House vote, handing a swift victory to women's and labor advocates on a civil rights expansion that Obama's predecessor had vowed to block.
Coming exactly a week after Obama took office, the quick work of the new Congress -- and the scheduling of the president's first East Room signing ceremony -- are early emblems of an intention to give the government a more liberal tilt. They also signify a rebalancing of power among the government's branches, with newly ascendant Democrats overruling a decision made two years ago by a slender Supreme Court majority that included two conservative justices appointed by former President George W. Bush.
The legislation, named for a retired tire plant supervisor who belatedly discovered that she was paid less than her male counterparts, essentially rewrites the rules specifying the time within which workers may sue under the 1964 Civil Rights Act for discrimination based on gender, race, national origin or religion.
(More here.)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
President Obama plans to sign into law Thursday the first legislation of his White House tenure, reversing a recent Supreme Court ruling that had restricted the ability of women and other workers to sue for pay discrimination.
Congress enacted the measure today with a lopsided House vote, handing a swift victory to women's and labor advocates on a civil rights expansion that Obama's predecessor had vowed to block.
Coming exactly a week after Obama took office, the quick work of the new Congress -- and the scheduling of the president's first East Room signing ceremony -- are early emblems of an intention to give the government a more liberal tilt. They also signify a rebalancing of power among the government's branches, with newly ascendant Democrats overruling a decision made two years ago by a slender Supreme Court majority that included two conservative justices appointed by former President George W. Bush.
The legislation, named for a retired tire plant supervisor who belatedly discovered that she was paid less than her male counterparts, essentially rewrites the rules specifying the time within which workers may sue under the 1964 Civil Rights Act for discrimination based on gender, race, national origin or religion.
(More here.)
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