Arizona Public Radio | Your Source for NPR News
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

AZ's Senators Oppose Paycheck Fairness Act

Today Arizona’s two Republican senators helped their party block the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have given women new tools to combat pay discrimination in the workforce.

Arizona women make eighty two cents to every dollar a man makes. That’s five cents better than the national average, but women’s groups say it’s still unacceptable. To shrink that gap Democrats offered the Paycheck Fairness Act, which is intended to protect women who want to compare their salaries with the men they work with in order to see if there’s a pay disparity. And it forces employers to prove any salary differences are job-related – not gender based. Arizona Republican Senator John McCain says Democrats are merely trying to score political points, which he says undercuts the public’s trust.

“I know that this is part of the election season and we could be doing other things, " McCain said. "It contributes to the near single digit approval rating we have.”

Analysts say the defeat of the Paycheck Fairness Act paints an even starker contrast between the two parties on gender issues ahead of this November’s elections.

 

Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo is a freelance reporter who has been covering Congress, the White House and the Supreme Courtfor more than five years. While he has filed stories for more than 40 local NPR stations, his work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, National Public Radio, The Omaha World-Herald, Pacifica Radio, Politics