The Senate has defeated a procedural (cloture) motion to consider beginning debate on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831) by a vote of 56 (Y) to 42 (N). This motion required 60 affirmative votes to pass. With the defeat of this motion, the Senate will now take up the Veterans’ Benefits Enhancement Bill (S. 1315) tomorrow. A vote on final passage is expected.
Republican members mainly sided with President Bush on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Bill after he indicated his intention to veto the measure if sent to his desk in its current form.
Here is a brief summary of the fair pay legislation from a previous post on this blog:
This is the bill that would reverse a 2007 Supreme Court decision that upheld a rule stating that pay discrimination complaints must be filed within 180 days after occurring. That decision was a very close 5-4 margin. The case arose after Lilly Ledbetter, an employee at a Goodyear Tire Plant in Alabama, claimed she was not equally compensated over her career when compared with male workers at the plant. She was originally awarded some $3.5 million in damages by a jury before an appeals court reversed the decision based on the 180 day rule. That led the case to the Supreme Court where Ms. Ledbetter lost by a narrow margin.
