Hagan gives first floor speech
Sen. Kay Hagan gave her first floor speech in the U.S. Senate today.
Click here to link to the video or click on the jump to read her prepared remarks.
Hagan was speaking in favor of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first bill she co-sponsored as a U.S. Senator.
Update: Back in 2003, we wrote this in our "Inside Scoop" political column:
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's self-imposed low profile may be coming to an end. The well- known Dole has been studiously avoiding the spotlight while she settles into the office she assumed in January.But this week, North Carolina's freshman senator gave her first speech on the Senate floor . By tradition going back two centuries, new senators remain silent during floor debates for a period of at least a few months.
Dole broke her silence Thursday morning in a speech carried live by the C-SPAN network. She focused her remarks on the need to fight hunger in North Carolina and throughout the world.
By that measure, Hagan seems to be precocious.
But it seems that the Senate's own historians have a decidedly more modern view:
From the Senate’s earliest days, new members have observed a ritual of remaining silent during floor debates for a period of time—depending on the era and the senator—that ranged from several months to several years. Some believed that by waiting a respectful amount of time before giving their so-called maiden speech, their more senior colleagues would respect them for their humility.[snip]
Today, all that survives of this ancient Senate tradition is the special attention given to a member’s first major address. When university libraries organize a collection of a former senator’s papers, the chronology of that member’s career almost always includes the date of his or her maiden speech.
What has not survived of this tradition, of course, is the yearlong waiting period. As one longtime floor observer notes, "the electorate wouldn’t stand for it."
Now for the jump.
The text of Hagan's prepared remarks:
- Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise today in support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Before I do so, please allow me to thank my colleagues in the U.S. Senate, so many of whom have gone out of their way to help welcome me into this body.
Both Majority Leader Reid and Senator Durbin have made these first days in the U.S. Senate as smooth as possible, as has the entire Democratic leadership, Senators Schumer, Murray, Dorgan and Stabenow. These first few weeks in the U.S. Senate are an exercise in thinking on your feet, adapting quickly and soaking it all in. I appreciate all they have done to help me hit the ground running. Their advice and guidance has been so important to me.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle, including Leader McConnell and especially the senior senator from North Carolina, Richard Burr, have also been so very helpful to both me and my staff. There is too much to be done in this country to differentiate between a “Republican” idea and a “Democratic” idea – we just need good ideas, and I hope to work with all of my colleagues to identify and implement as many as we can.
And thanks also to the primary sponsor of this bill, Senator Mikulski, who I was honored to have walk with me as I was sworn in as one of 100 senators and one of 17 female senators in this body. Senator Mikulski, who has led the way for women her entire career, I want to thank you for your leadership in this body and on this important bill. I’m honored to be one of the 16 other women you’ve paved the way for.
I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help deliver for those in our country who are struggling to provide for themselves and their families. A few days before our new President is sworn in, there is a sense of urgency, but also a sense of optimism, and I’m so honored to be a part of this body at this historic time.
***
As I said, I rise today to in support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which will restore protections against pay discrimination in the workplace. The bill would reestablish a fair rule for filing claims of pay discrimination based on race, national origin, gender, religion, age or disability. A few months ago this bill’s namesake, Lilly Ledbetter, joined me at several roundtable events in North Carolina. Her courage and determination was inspiring. She is committed to this cause, even though it’s too late to do anything in her own case.
In North Carolina, families are facing a serious enough challenge trying to make ends meet on a full paycheck -- never mind trying to do so on a paycheck reduced by discrimination. Women in my home state make an average of 78 cents for every dollar that men make for similar jobs and responsibilities. In these tough economic times, when families are being forced to choose between putting food on the table and filling a prescription; can no longer afford the payments on their house – their own small part of the American Dream; are being forced to dip into their savings to help pay their bills; why would anyone find it acceptable for women to make less than men? Or white workers to make more than African Americans? Or for someone to be discriminated against based on national origin, religion, or disability? Why would we allow it to be more difficult for working families, instead of less?
When someone is discriminated against in the workplace or anywhere else, surely they feel the impact of that discrimination far longer than 180 days.
This bill would restore a reasonable time limit for filing pay discrimination claims, re-establishing the long-standing rule applied by nine courts of appeals and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in pay discrimination cases before the unfortunate Supreme Court decision in May of 2007.
Importantly, this bill does not hold employers responsible for decades and decades of back pay. Current law limits back pay awards to two years before the worker filed the claim. This bill does not change that.
Mr. President, when discrimination in the workplace results in a lower wage for those discriminated against, the people responsible should be held accountable. This bill helps them to do that. In does not place an undue burden on employers, nor does it open them up to decades-old litigation. It simply says, for all of the legal jargon, that it’s not acceptable for women to make less than men for the same job, with the same qualifications and with the same performance. In 2009, that’s not too much to ask.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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