Applauds President Obama’s Focus on Increasing Economic Opportunities
WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement tonight in reaction to President Obama’s State of the Union address. She is the senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services. DeLauro was accompanied to the speech by Lilly Ledbetter, who became the face of the fair pay movement after discovering her employer had paid her 40 percent less than her male counterparts for the same work.
“Tonight’s focus was exactly where it should be: on how we ensure all Americans have a shot at economic mobility and the opportunity to succeed. The President laid out a series of policies based on the core premise that in the United States your ability to get ahead should be determined by your hard work, ambition and goals, not the circumstances of your birth.
“Increasing the minimum wage for new federal contract service workers is a start, but it is not enough. Congress needs to increase the minimum wage so that every American has a living wage.
“As the author of the Paycheck Fairness Act, it was critical to hear the President talk about the need to ensure equal pay for equal work. Tomorrow we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, yet women still make an average of only 77 cents to a man’s dollar. That must end and I will continue to fight to make the wage gap a thing of the past. One step that the President could take immediately is to ban retaliation by federal contractors so that employees are free to share their wages with one another.
“He was right to talk about the importance of paid sick days and paid family leave. No one should have to choose between their family, their health, or their paycheck. And I was glad to hear the President talk about the importance of job training, and educational opportunities in general. We need to close the skills gap, and greater investment in education and job training is the way to do it.
“Pay equity, increasing the minimum wage, work/family balance and access to job training are key components of the Women’s Economic Agenda I launched with my colleagues last July. Tonight the President rightfully recognized that when women succeed, America succeeds.
“The President is right that we have come a long way since the depths of the recession. We still have far to go, but I am optimistic that we will get there.
