Posted on 11/17/2010 11:19:16 AM PST by markomalley
He may have shot a bullet through the Democratic agenda on the campaign trail, but newly elected Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has so far been faithful to his party.
In the first vote called during in the lame duck session, Manchin, who was sworn in Monday, decided to support the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that aims to ensure pay equity in the workplace.
Democrats backed the bill along party lines, with 58 voting in favor of it. But it failed to get the 60 votes needed to bring it to the Senate floor for consideration.
It’s no surprise that Manchin backed the bill. Labor unions who helped elect him have been pushing the measure, which would update and expand the Equal Pay Act of 1963.
The bill would make it easier for women to sue for pay discrimination. Unions liked the bill because it would eliminate some of the competitive advantage held by non-unionized companies.
The bill’s sponsors point to U.S. Census Bureau statistics showing that women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.
Republicans opposing the bill say pay differences are often the result of individual choices made by employees or the negotiating skills of job seekers. They argue that the bill would simply be used as a tool for trial lawyers to file frivolous lawsuits.
If he can’t even vote against this atrocious piece of legislation, how will he do on other issues where there is WH and Dem leadership pressure?
What a surprise. He and Coons will be fighting for a place on Dingy Harry’s lap as his “pets”.
He may have done it knowing the 60 votes weren’t forthcoming. May keep his party elders from micromanaging him.
Juss sayin
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you Manchin is voting along party lines with Democrats!
Is anybody surprised? He is as liberal as the rest of them although he campaigned as though he was Ronald Reagan. Liberals are all liars because nobody would vote for them if they told the truth.
How about a bill to lower that to 50 cents, since at least 27 cents is spent in endless yapping at friends' cubicles and surfing eBay and Zappos.
To those citizens of West Virginia:
You elected a fraud and liar.
Really stupid feat.
I found some shiny rocks in my back yard. They are real diamonds. I sell them to you, big money, yes?
Hey! Shopping at Zappos is work-related, because I’m buying those shoes for work.
Well imagine that!!
I don't know, you might get flamed for that, but it's funny anyway.
Women of comparable qualifications and experience make significantly more than men.
Without even resorting to an empirical study to determine the veracity of that statistic, one can prove that it's a lie by simple economics.
Implicit in the libs' "77 cents" argument is that the woman who is underpaid is identically qualified as the man. Otherwise, their argument completely falls apart. So, assuming identical qualifications, one employer hires ten men at $100,000 salary per man, while his competitor hires ten women at $77,000 each. This gives the "enlightened" employer a 23% competitive advantage over the one who stubbornly clings to outdated notions. The employer who employs the women can now undercut his competitor or competitors, since he has a substantially lower cost of doing business. Eventually, he can dominate the industry by capturing market share, putting his neanderthal competitors out of business.
Of course, if his competitors are smart, they will bid up the salaries of the women, while, at the same time, telling their male employees that they would have to take less money, or risk being replaced by an identically-qualified female. Eventually, an equilibrium point would be reached, where all the employees who are equally qualified, would make about the same amount of money, around $88,000.
it’s a Gimme for Coal Hollow Joe.....can vote for it and please the Unions back home while all the while knowing it won’t see the light of day...being in Congress means being able to have your cake and eat it too.
he’s pretty good on taxes and spending but I guess it is still possible to cut to the bone and still support tings like minimum wage and pro-union stuff.
Anyone know a good republican organization in WV that we can send money to so they can run an ad mocking their fellow W Virginians by saying “Did you REALLY believe what he said in his commercials?”
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