Senate Republicans on Tuesday rejected the Paycheck Fairness Act, again, which would widen protections for women who want to initiate legal action in cases of gender wage disparity. The bill needed 60 votes to come up for debate; it got 52.
You know the gig by now: Republicans think government regulation is onerous on businesses, and Democrats want them to take a vote against women. We've done this already, but now Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee, which makes him the unofficial leader of his party. The vote over PFA—aside from the fact that it would actually help women workers, but we're talking politics here—was designed to snare Romney, who had to either somehow rally his party to support the bill, which would test his command over a GOP still wary of his conservative credentials, or avoid the issue, which would hurt him with women voters.
[More on Romney and the Paycheck Fairness Act:
Will Romney Have To Choose Between Women and Old White Men?
Mitt Romney And The Paycheck Fairness Act: Can Mitt Be Both For Women's Pay And Against It?]
Romney chose the latter, which puts him in an even tougher spot with women voters, who already don't see much to like about Romney. The candidate is down by 17 points among women in swing states, and a stunning 45 among young women voters.
The issue is so difficult for Romney because his platform is premised almost entirely on a "But jobs!" response to every issue. But the Paycheck Fairness Act is about jobs. Quoting myself from a couple months ago, "Romney can't simultaneously knock Obama's record on women's job creation on one day and argue for gender-based wage disparity the next." It also undermines Romney and the GOP's anti-regulatory arguments. If gender wage disparity is something Republicans seriously want to lick—and they claim they do, if you believe them—then I'd love to hear a solution that doesn't involve government regulation. Romney's silence on the issue says everything you need to know about the existence of that solution.
There's no way out for Romney on this one, but he's going to have to answer for it in debates in the fall. Despite the fact that 47 senators voted against the Act yesterday, it will be Romney who ends up paying the price.
---
Politics moves fast. PoliticOlogy types faster. Follow Evan McMurry at Ology, or on Twitter: Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry | PoliticOlogy @OlogyPolitics
Comments (1)