Americas PAC has released a new radio ad (below) running across Illinois that focuses on the wage gap between men and women working on Dick Durbin’s Senate staff.
Download AmPac_DurbinsPayGap_MP360Sec
“Dick Durbin likes to talk about the Republican war on women, but how can he talk of a war on women when he doesn’t even pay his female staffers the same as the men?” said Tom Donelson, Chairman of Americas PAC
Analysis of Senate Staff payroll found that in 2012 Durbin “paid men $13,063 more, a difference of 23 percent,” or about 77 cents for every dollar earned by his male staffers.
In 2014, a follow-up report by the Free Beacon found that Durbin was still paying his female staff less than his maile staff. “The average female salary is $11,505 lower than the average male salary in Durbin’s office,” the paper reported.
President Obama’s White House has a wage gap problem as well. “The hypocrisy is stunning,” says Donelson. “I am eager to hear Durbin’s explanation of why his female staffers are paid less than male staffers.”
Since 1963 the Equal Pay Act has made it illegal to pay men and women with the same experience differently for equal work. The new legislation pushed by Democrats, known as the Paycheck Fairness Act, does not change the premise of that long-standing law. However, it does make it easier for trial lawyers earn money from class action lawsuits.
“Dick Durbin’s crony capitalism and hypocrisy are on full display,” Donelson argues. “He wants to pass legislation that his own office could be sued for violating, except the legislation conveniently exempts the government.”
The key provisions of the proposed act would not apply to the Federal Government.
“This isn’t about equal pay. This is about paying off trial lawyers,” Donelson says. “Simply put, Dick Durbin and the Democrats are hypocritically pretending to be champions of equal pay so they can line the pockets of trial lawyers who donate to their campaigns.”
