Senator Tom Harkin
Blog Post List
October 26, 2011
Since the first Thanksgiving almost 400 years ago, Americans have spent each fall counting our blessings for the abundance produced by this continent's food and agriculture system. It is a gift that has kept on giving: We Americans today are, in general, able to consume more food, with more variety and convenience, more suited to our individual tastes and costing a lower share of our incomes than ever before in human existence. Even as we recognize this abundance, another long-held American tradition is continually working to improve on our present circumstances -- to keep pushing for...
MomsRising
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April 12, 2011
By Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Today Americans observe Equal Pay Day – the date that marks the extra days that women must work into 2011 in order to equal what men earned in 2010. To correct this injustice, today I will introduce the Fair Pay Act of 2011 , a bill I have introduced every Congress since 1996. In 1963, Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act to end unfair discrimination against women in the workforce. While we have made progress toward this important goal, nearly half a century later, too many women are paid less than...
MomsRising
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December 6, 2010
By Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) Earlier this year, on April 20th, we observed Equal Pay Day, the date that marked the 110 extra days that women had to work into 2010 in order to equal what men earned in 2009. This is an injustice of this first order. In 1963, Congress first responded to the wage gap between men and women by enacting the Equal Pay Act to end this unfair discrimination against women in the workforce. Over the past 47 years, we have made progress toward this important goal, but progress has been stalled in the last decade. It is unacceptable that a woman still makes only 77 cents...
MomsRising
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August 18, 2010
On July 28th, MomsRising’s campaign director, Donna Norton, presented me with a collection of stories from MomsRising members in Iowa and across the country about the need for paid sick days. These stories are incredibly compelling. Donna presents Sen. Harkin the MomsRising members' PSD book I was particularly concerned by the story of an Iowa MomsRising member who works at a hospital that does not offer paid sick days. As a result, many workers are forced to come to work at the hospital when they are sick because they can’t afford to lose a day’s pay or put their jobs in jeopardy. This is...
MomsRising
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