(pic Ledbetter and Obama in 2008)

As of Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed, by a strong majority, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Since this bill also recently passed the U.S. House, the bill will soon go to President Obama, who has promised to sign it into law.

This is more terrific news. I have been following this story for ages and this is a big win.

Lilly sued Goodyear for unfair pay based on gender. Her case went to the supreme court where it was defeated by the conservatives and corporatists, along party lines. This new law addresses the failure of the Court to uphold fair pay standards. And will go a long way to ending gender based pay discrimination. Lilly is a hero. She fought very hard for this issue at much personal cost and difficulty.

Find out how your senator voted on this, and if they were in support, make sure you send a thank you message.

5 Repubs crossed over to our side.
Both senators Collins and Snowe- from Maine, Specter from PA., Murkowski from Alaska, and Huchinson from Texas. 4 out of the 5 were women. (except Specter). 36 Repubs voted to continue to support unfair pay for women.

We need to stay in communication with our congress critters on this stuff and make sure we reward them for good behavior and scold them loudly for bad.