The Paycheck Fairness Act was introduced by Democrats earlier this year to help end pay discrimination toward female employees. The bill would have punished employers who discriminate with larger penalties and would have made it easier for women to find out if they are being paid less than male employees for the same work. President Obama supports the bill, while Mitt Romney has declined to support or oppose it. Democrats have accused Republicans of waging a war on women because of the anti-women policies being introduced and passed in GOP controlled legislatures across the country. But on Tuesday, Senate Republicans continued the war on women by blocking the Paycheck Fairness Act through filibuster.

By a 52-47 vote, Republicans blocked the equal pay measure, referring to it as a “war on free enterprise.” Republicans believe that employers have the right to pay their employees whatever they want and claim that women are already protected from pay discrimination. Of course if that were true, Republicans would be able to explain why women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes in the workplace.

The fact is, Republicans are actually harming families and the economy by blocking this bill. Women are consumers and if they had equal pay, they would be able to spend more money in this economy. By keeping money out of the hands of women, Republicans are taking spending power away from them. That weakens the economy. It also hurts families because women need to be able to provide food, clothes, shelter, and health care for their children. That’s hard to do when you’re not making fair wages. It’s especially hard for single mothers who have to rely on only what income they bring in. So Republicans are also harming children because mothers will have to make sacrifices, and those sacrifices could also mean women being forced to ignore their own well-being to care for their families. Without enough money, women will choose to do without health care in order to keep their kids healthy and happy. But women shouldn’t have to choose. They should be paid fairly so that they can care for themselves and their families properly.

But Republicans simply do not care. They are too busy waging a war on women and it doesn’t matter to them who gets hurt as long as big business wins.

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Written by: Stephen D. Foster Jr. on June 5, 2012.
Last revised by: Matthew Desmond