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The procedural vote to move forward failed to consider the legislation by a vote of 49-50, well below the 60-vote threshold needed for success.
The vote result underscores once again how limited Democrats can do to advance their agenda through the 50-50-partisan Senate as long as legislative obstruction remains intact.
According to the legislative text, the bill would provide “more effective remedies for victims of wage discrimination based on sex.” The House passed in April by 217 votes to 210. And one Republican, Pennsylvania Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, voted for the bill at the time.
The measure would “strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963, help eliminate the gender pay gap, and ensure women’s ability to challenge wage discrimination and hold employers accountable,” according to a press release issued when the bill was re-introduced in the current session of Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took aim at the bill and the broader agenda of Senate Democrats in remarks on the Senate floor on Monday.
McConnell argued that the June agenda Democrats are pursuing, which includes priorities including the Equal Pay Act as well as a major reform of voting rights facing stiff resistance from the Republican Party, is “transparently designed to fail.”
“Senate Democrats plan to focus this month on the demands of their radical base, taking advantage of pay equity to send windfall gains to lawyers, hospitals, schools and small businesses with crippling legal burdens if they fail to keep up with the wake up,” McConnell said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke of his support for the bill at the hearing earlier Tuesday and responded to McConnell’s criticism.
“Look, the only way a bill to provide equal pay for women fails is if Senate Republicans block it,” Schumer said, adding, “If the Republican leader wants to talk about extreme positions, I’d say opposing the equal pay legislation.” Pay for women with the support of a strong majority of the electorate is a radical position.”
“We’ve been talking about the pay gap for years now with no action by the Senate. Women who hold the same jobs, the same degree, and sometimes better grades than their male colleagues, earn less money. For women of color, the gap between them and Their male colleagues are wider.”
CNN’s Annie Grayer and Daniela Diaz contributed to this report.
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