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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Linda Paris, (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org 

House Votes on Pay Equity Bills Signal Momentum for Wage Discrimination Safeguards

ACLU Urges the Senate to Quickly Take Up the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act for the Sake of Working Families

WASHINGTON

Today, as one of its first orders of business, the House of
Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 11, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair
Pay Act, and H.R. 12, the Paycheck Fairness Act - a pay equity
legislative package that helps employees to combat wage discrimination.
The vote counts were 247-171 and 256-163, respectively. The ACLU urges
swift action on these bills in the Senate.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, director of ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

"By
passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act
together in the first week of session, the House has generated real
momentum for change. Today's vote on the two pay equity bills is a
concrete step forward for wage discrimination safeguards after the
unwarranted rollbacks of basic wage protections.

"The
Senate should pick up the pay equity baton and pass these important
bills. In this time of economic belt-tightening, American workers
depend on bringing home every dollar that they rightfully earn. This
historic House vote should signal to senators that the American people
overwhelming want to achieve basic pay fairness for all."

For more information about the pay equity legislative package, go to https:/www.aclu.org/womensrights/employ/38239leg20090106.html

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(212) 549-2666