Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer’s interview with Chuck Todd on The Daily Rundown was the typical liberal jargon that is commonly seen on MSNBC. However, this time the political opportunism amongst Senate Democrats was palpable, especially with this “fair pay” business. We’ve all heard the statistics that women make only 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, but when this so-called Paycheck Fairness Act failed was pushed added to the agenda, I was floored.
First of all, as Chuck Todd reiterated this morning, the bill was never going to get the sixty votes needed to proceed to a vote for approval. Therefore, this willful campaign of self-martydom by liberals was a ploy to make Republicans look evil and continue the war on “women narrative.” However, what is fascinating is the fact that Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s female staffers earn 27.6% less than their male counterparts. According to the Washington Free Beacon:
Pelosi’s female employees earned an average annual salary of $96,394 in fiscal year 2011. Male employees earned $123,000 on average, a difference of 27.6 percent.
The gap is even larger if calculated using the median salaries for men and women. For Pelosi’s female employees, the median annual salary was $93,320 in 2011, compared to $130,455 for male employees—a difference of $37,135, or 40 percent.
Pelosi’s entire staff—men and women—earned an average annual salary of $108,150 and a median salary of $114,662. By both measures, women made considerably less.
Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.), Patty Murray (D., Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.), Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.)—three pay their female staff members significantly less than male staffers.
Murray, who has repeatedly accused Republicans of waging a “war a women,” is one of the worst offenders. Female members of Murray’s staff made about $21,000 less per year than male staffers in 2011, a difference of 35.2 percent.
That is well above the 23 percent gap that Democrats claim exists between male and female workers nationwide. The figure is based on a 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report, and is technically accurate. However, as CNN’s Lisa Sylvester has reported, when factors such as area of employment, hours of work, and time in the workplace are taken into account, the gap shrinks to about 5 percent.
A significant “gender gap” exists in Feinstein’s office, where women also made about $21,000 less than men in 2011, but the percentage difference—41 percent—was even higher than Murray’s.
Barbara Boxer stated on the senate floor that “Senator Mikulski’s bill says you can’t be reprimanded or punished because you’re trying to find out if you’re being paid fairly. That’s why we have to pass this law and anyone voting against it– is taking a stand against women, is taking a stand against fairness, is taking a stand against justice — is taking a stand against our families.” Yet, her female staffers made $5,000 less than male staffers last year.
