Progress Illinois

Today is Equal Pay Day, a national event to raise awareness about the discrepancies in wages between men and women. In case you doubt the seriousness of the issue, consider this: The National Committee for Pay Equity estimates that women are make, on average, between $400,000 and $2 million less than their male counterparts over the course of their life.

While the U.S. Senate has still not taken up the Paycheck Fairness Act, the two candidates running for Barack Obama's seat here in Illinois offer a stark choice on the issue of pay equity. Mark Kirk has voted down multiple pay fairness bills, using tortured legal logic to justify his anti-women (and anti-worker) positions. Alexi Giannoulias, on the other hand, has a full section of his platform devoted to the issue.

Finally, here are Rep. Phil Hare's thoughts on the issue, from a statement released today:

The fact that women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men for the same work is a national disgrace. ... Every time a woman is denied equal pay it is her entire family who suffers from the reduced income. Worse yet, it is a betrayal of our national values. I hope we never have to mark Equal Pay Day again.

Yesterday, a health care reform opponent filmed an argument with Rep. Phil Hare following a contentious town hall meeting in Quincy.  During the back-and-forth, an exasperated Hare said, "I don't worry about the Constitution on this," referring to the health care bill.  If you watch the entire video, it's clear this wasn't Hare's most articulate exchange.  But in the 24 hours since, numerous right-wing blogs at the national level have latched on to the comment to suggest that Hare doesn't care whether the bill is consitutional or not.  In a statement this morning, Hare's office pushed back against that characterization, making clear that he would not have voted for the bill if he didn't think it met "constitutional muster":

“On this” meant that he is not worried about this health care law being ruled unconstitutional. Dozens of legal scholars have said it will be held up in court. And Massachusetts has an individual mandate which remains in tact to this day. Congressman Hare worries more about providing affordable insurance for families, small businesses, and seniors than whether this bill meets constitutional muster. He believes it does, or he would not have voted for it.  He said several times during the meeting yesterday that he supports the Constitution, but that conveniently didn’t make the tape.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on H.R. 413, a bill that would extend federal collective bargaining power to public safety officers in the 25 states where they don't currently have the right. One witness, Doug Stafford from the National Right to Work Committee, opposed the bill, arguing that it's a scam propagated by "Big Labor" and "union bosses" to collect forced union dues from public employees. Refreshingly, Illinois' own Rep. Phil Hare -- a former union steward -- called him out on the inflammatory rhetoric in a written statement (PDF), asking Stafford to "define union boss." At the hearing, Hare said that "it's an honor to serve as the president of a local union and as a steward representing ordinary people each and every day." Stafford later admitted that he wasn't comfortable recognizing unions even if a majority of workers support the drive. Watch the video below: