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30-666: An earlier bill seeking to supersede the Ledbetter decision, also called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, was first introduced in the 110th United States Congress , but was not successfully enacted at that time, as it was passed by the House but failed in the Senate . During the campaign for the 2008 elections , the Democrats criticized Republicans for defeating the 2007 version of

60-662: A bill funding the war without timelines, but with benchmarks for the Iraqi government and money for other spending projects like disaster relief . These are partial lists of prominent enacted legislation and pending bills. More information: Public Laws for the 110th Congress Archived March 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine and Complete index of Public and Private Laws for 110th Congress at GPO Membership changed with one death and two resignations. Membership fluctuated with seven deaths and eight resignations. Democrats achieved

90-540: A ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair , serve as ex officio members of all of the committee's subcommittees. Both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives use ranking members as part of their legislative structure. When party control of

120-479: A legislative chamber changes, a committee's ranking minority member is generally ensured to become the next chairman of the committee, and vice versa. Four Senate committees refer to the ranking minority member as vice chairman . The following committees follow the chairman/vice chairman structure for the majority and minority parties. Other Senate committees refer to the ranking minority members as ranking member. The House of Representatives normally does not use

150-410: A net gain of three seats as a result of their victories in special elections . See Changes in membership , below. Section contents: Senate : Majority (D) , Minority (R) • House : Majority (D) , Minority (R) Senators are listed by state, then by class , In this Congress, Class 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 2008; Class 3 meant their term began in

180-542: A setback for civil rights" and called Ginsburg's opinion a "clarion call to the American people that this slim majority of the court is headed in the wrong direction." Debra L. Ness , president of the National Partnership for Women & Families , also condemned the decision, saying, "If employers can keep the discrimination hidden for a period of time, they can continue to discriminate without being held accountable." On

210-914: The Senate who cited the possibility of frivolous lawsuits in their opposition of the bill and criticized Democrats for refusing to allow compromises. The bill was reintroduced in the 111th Congress (as H.R. 11 and S. 181 ) in January 2009. It passed in the House of Representatives with 250 votes in support and 177 against. The vote was split along party lines, with three Republicans voting in favor ( Ed Whitfield of Kentucky , and Leonard Lance and Chris Smith both of New Jersey ) and five Democrats voting against ( Travis Childers of Mississippi , Dan Boren of Oklahoma , Allen Boyd of Florida , Parker Griffith of Alabama, and Bobby Bright of Alabama ). The Senate voted 72 to 23 to invoke cloture on S. 181 on January 15, 2009. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed

240-805: The Civil Rights Act, but also the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 , Fair Housing Act , Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act and Eighth Amendment to the Constitution . Among the first to criticize the Court's decision that Ledbetter's complaint was time-barred was Marcia Greenberger , president of the National Women's Law Center , that saw in the ruling a "setback for women and

270-511: The Congress to take action by amending the law, the Democrats announced their intention to intervene: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller said that a bill was to be passed to avoid future court rulings in line with Ledbetter , clearly putting that "a key provision of the legislation will make it clear that discrimination occurs not just when

300-522: The House would vote on S. 181 (the bill passed by the Senate) during the week of January 26, getting the bill to President Obama's desk sooner rather than later. On January 27, the House passed S. 181 by a 250–177 margin. On January 29, 2009, nine days after he took office, Obama signed the bill into law. It was the first act he signed as president, and it fulfilled his campaign pledge to nullify Ledbetter v. Goodyear . However, by signing it only two days after it

330-602: The House. Officially in the Senate, there were 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and two independents , but because both of the independents caucused with the Democrats, this gave the Democrats an operational majority. No Democratic-held seats had fallen to the Republican Party in the 2006 elections . This is the most recent Congress to feature Republican senators from Minnesota ( Norm Coleman ), New Mexico ( Pete Domenici ) and Oregon ( Gordon Smith ), in which Domenici retired and

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360-476: The Senate, 61-36, on January 22, 2009. Those in favor included every Democratic senator (except Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was absent from the vote because of health issues), two independents who caucused with Democrats, and five Republican senators, including all four female Republicans in the senate: Susan Collins ( Maine ), Olympia Snowe ( Maine ), Kay Bailey Hutchison ( Texas ), and Lisa Murkowski ( Alaska ). Senator Arlen Specter ( Pennsylvania )

390-551: The Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. On the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee. Other officers and officials include: Ranking member In United States politics ,

420-578: The Union Address , Congress debated his proposal to create a troop surge to increase security in Iraq. The House of Representatives passed a non-binding measure opposing the surge and then a $ 124 billion emergency spending measure to fund the war, which included language that dictated troop levels and withdrawal schedules. President Bush, however, vetoed the bill as promised, making this his second veto while in office. Both houses of Congress subsequently passed

450-490: The bill include the following: U.S. Chamber of Commerce , Eagle Forum , Society for Human Resource Management , National Association of Manufacturers , American Bakers Association , College and University Professional Association for Human Resources , Associated Builders and Contractors , and American Hotel & Lodging Association . The bill ( H.R. 2831 and S. 1843 ) was defeated in April 2008 by Republicans in

480-606: The bill, citing Republican presidential candidate John McCain 's opposition to the bill and candidate Barack Obama 's support. The antecedents of the case were posed when Lilly Ledbetter , a production supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant in Alabama , filed an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission , six months before her early retirement in 1998. Initially,

510-1358: The claim". Organizations that supported the bill include the following: American Civil Liberties Union , AFL–CIO , American Federation of Teachers , National Education Association , American Rights at Work , American Library Association , People For the American Way , Leadership Conference on Civil Rights , National Employment Lawyers Association , Hadassah , National Women's Law Center , National Network to End Domestic Violence , Center for Inquiry - Washington DC , American Association of University Women , Alliance for Justice , Legal Momentum , Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law , National Partnership for Women and Families , Coalition of Labor Union Women , Moms Rising , National Organization for Women , American Association of Retired Persons , Women's Voices , Women Vote Action Fund , 21st Century Democrats , 9to5, National Association of Working Women , Service Employees International Union , Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism , Women Employed , Women's League for Conservative Judaism , Union for Reform Judaism , National Council of Jewish Women , Rabbinical Assembly , Feminist Majority Foundation , YWCA USA , National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund , and National Council of La Raza . Organizations that opposed

540-530: The company anymore: "At the end of the day, such a loophole conceivably could allow a retiring employee to seek damages against a company now led by executives who had nothing to do with the initial act of discrimination". The American Bar Association passed a resolution supporting the new bill. Neal Mollen, who represented the United States Chamber of Commerce in the Ledbetter case, argued that extending

570-531: The congressional calendar". In 2017, the Trump administration announced it was ending an Obama-era rule that required businesses with over 100 employees to collect wage data by gender, race, and ethnicity. 110th United States Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government , between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during

600-471: The date she filed her charge, as explained by Justice Samuel Alito . Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 's dissenting opinion proposed an interpretation according to which the law runs from the date of any paycheck that contains an amount affected by a prior discriminatory pay decision. The Ledbetter decision was cited by federal judges in 300 cases before the LLFPA was passed. These cases involved not only Title VII of

630-493: The decision to discriminate is made, but also when someone becomes subject to that discriminatory decision, and when they are affected by that discriminatory decision, including each time they are issued a discriminatory paycheck", as said by Rep. Miller. Republicans immediately opposed the bill as drafted, with Education and Labor Committee ranking member Howard McKeon raising the issue that business executives would be held liable for actions taken by managers who weren't leading

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660-456: The jury found for Ms. Ledbetter, awarding her $ 3 million, which was reduced to $ 360,000 due to a Title VII damage cap. But the appeals court reversed this ruling. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Supreme Court. The latter ruled in 2007 by a 5–4 majority vote that Ledbetter's complaint was time-barred because the discriminatory decisions relating to pay had been made more than 180 days prior to

690-444: The last Congress, requiring reelection in 2010; and Class 1 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 2012. There were two resignations and one death. Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of the House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of

720-460: The last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush . It was composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives . The apportionment of seats in the House was based on the 2000 U.S. census . The Democratic Party won a majority in both chambers, giving them full control of Congress for the first time since the 103rd Congress in 1993, which was also the previous time they controlled

750-401: The other side, the majority's findings were applauded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce , that called it a "fair decision" that "eliminates a potential wind-fall against employers by employees trying to dredge up stale pay claims." The House Democrats were fast to react, coming out on June 12 against the Supreme Court. Claiming lead from Justice Ruth Ginsburg's dissenting opinion, which invited

780-477: The other two lost re-election at the end of the Congress. Democrat Nancy Pelosi became the first female speaker of the House . The House also received the first Muslim ( Keith Ellison ) and Buddhist ( Hank Johnson and Mazie Hirono ) members of Congress. Members debated initiatives such as the Democrats' 100-Hour Plan and the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. Following President Bush's 2007 State of

810-430: The term limit would put a strain on the chances of an adequate defense for the employers, as to defend themselves one "has to rely on documents and the memory of individuals, and neither of those is permanent. If a disappointed employee can wait for many years before raising a claim of discrimination ... he or she can wait out the employer, that is ensure that the employer effectively unable to offer any meaningful defense to

840-489: The term vice chairman for the ranking minority member, though some committees do have a vice-chairman position, usually assigned to a senior member of the majority party other than the chairman. House committees that follow this structure are: The position of vice chair as the designation for the ranking minority member has been used for the House January 6 Committee . Joint committees of the House and Senate operate in much

870-585: Was at the time a Republican and also voted in favor of the bill. Shortly thereafter, Senator Spector switched parties , joining the Democratic caucus in April 2009. President Obama actively supported the bill. The official White House blog said: President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter's cause, and by signing it into law, he will ensure that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that

900-471: Was passed by the House, he incurred criticism by newspapers, such as the St. Petersburg Times which mentioned his campaign promise to give the public five days of notice to comment on legislation before he signed it. The White House through a spokesman answered that they would be "implementing this policy in full soon", and that, currently they were "working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with

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