GOP Senators Block Paycheck Fairness Act

Republican Senators this week blocked a bill aimed at closing the wage gap between men and women.

The Paycheck Fairness Act — a measure that would bolster protections for women who share salary information with their colleagues or sue their employees for gender-based wage discrimination — failed to earn the 60 votes needed to break the GOP filibuster. The final party-line vote was 52-47.

The legislation has been stuck in the House for more than a decade, as women still only earn 77 cents for each $1 earned by men.

"In 1963 we made 59 cents for every dollar that men made. Now it's 77 cents," Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the bill's chief sponsor, according to The Washington Post. "What does that mean? It means every five years we make an advancement of one penny. Oh no. No more. We're not just going to take it anymore."