UnEqual Pay and Just Words

Obama’s words don’t often seem to match his actions.  In one area where that’s the case is equal pay.  Yes, he voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2008, the act intending to extend the time employees may sue employers for pay discrimination.  But he doesn’t seem to do much for his staff, in following through on this vote.  (The Act by the way didn’t pass, by the way, and Clinton voted for it too.)

A review of congressional salaries shows that Obama pays women roughly $6,000 less than men on his staff.  See article Here.  Legistorm publishes information on staff salaries, and that’s the source I used since when looking at salaries.  The source used in other articles was a report published by the Secretary of the Senate, which I didn’t have access to, but Legistorm’s information was good enough to take a gander.  Their site is here.  Created in 2006 by a nonpartisan group, they watchdog congressional offices for how taxpayer money is spent.

When pay information came out about payscales, Obama people cried foul.  They said it wasn’t the fault of their Chosen One, that women earned less.  The fault was Obama’s COS or civil service regulations that set pay in stone.  Not so according to the Congressional Management Foundation, based in DC.  They responded to my email query this way:  “Each House and Senate Office runs like a small business.  While each has to abide by the rules of their respective chambers (ex, the House has a limit on the number of fulltime staff), they each can make their own decisions about positions and pay.  Often decisions are made by the Chief of Staff and usually the Senator.  Because of this, staff can be paid a wide range of salaries.”

Legistorm also responded to my email query:  “The staff salaries are ultimately the responsiblity of the member of Congress, although they may delegate the specifics to a chief of staff.  Civil service rules do not apply to Congress.”

It’s fair to note when words match action, and and in this case, the gap is clear.