March 6, 2025 • 8 mins
Remarks of President Barack Obama on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act bill signing.
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied
by Missus Lily Ledbetter.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
The bill that was signed into law. It will allow
people one hundred and eighty days from the time they
learn basically that they're being discriminated against, to file their
charges with the EOC.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
This is a wonderful day. First of all, it is
fitting that the very first bill that I signed, the
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, that it is upholding
(01:03):
one of this nation's founding principles, that we are all
created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our
own version of happiness. It's also fitting that we're joined
today by the woman after whom this bill is named,
someone who Michelle and I have had the privilege to
(01:24):
get to know ourselves. And it is fitting that we
are joined this morning by the first woman Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. It's appropriate that there
(01:44):
is the first bill we do together. We could not
have done it without her, Madam Speaker, thank you for
your extraordinary work, and to all the sponsors and members
of Congress and leadership who helped to make this day possible.
Lily led Beetter did not set out to be a
(02:05):
trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good,
hard worker who did her job, and she did it
well for nearly two decades before discovering that for years
she was paid less than her male colleagues for doing
the very same work. Over the course of her career,
she lost more than two hundred thousand dollars in salary
(02:28):
and even more in pension and Social Security benefits, losses
that she still feels today now. Lily could have accepted
her lot and moved on. She could have decided that
it wasn't worth the hassle and the harassment that would
inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead,
(02:49):
she decided that there was a principle at stake, something
worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey
that would take more than ten years, take her all
the way to the Supreme Court of the United States,
and lead to this day and this bill, which will
help others get the justice that she was denied. Because
(03:10):
while this bill bears her name, Lily knows that this
story isn't just about her. It's the story of women
across this country still earning just seventy eight cents for
every dollar men earn women of color even less, which
means that today, in the year two thousand and nine,
countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary,
(03:32):
income and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime.
An equal pay is by no means just a women's issue.
It's a family issue. It's about parents who find themselves
with less money for tuition in childcare, couples who wind
up with less to retire, on households where one bread
winner is paid less than she deserves. It's the difference
(03:56):
between affording the mortgage or not, betweeping the heat on,
or paying the doctor bills or not. And in this economy,
when so many folks are already working harder for lessons
struggling to get by, the last thing they can afford
is losing part of each month's paycheck to simple and
plain discrimination. So signing this bill today is to send
(04:23):
a clear message that making our economy work means making
sure it works for everybody, that there are no second
class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just
unfair and illegal, it's bad for business to pay somebody
less because of their gender, or their age or their
race or their ethnicity, religion, or disability. And the justice
(04:46):
isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a
case book. It's about how our laws affect the daily lives,
in the daily realities of people, their ability to make
a living and care for their families and achieve their goals. Ultimately,
equal pay isn't just an economic issue for millions of
Americans and their families. It's a question of who we
(05:07):
are and whether we're truly living up to our fundamental ideals,
whether we'll do our part as generations before us, to
ensure those words put on paper some two hundred years
ago really means something, to breathe new life into them
with a more enlightened understanding that is appropriate for our time.
(05:28):
That is what Lily Ledbetter challenged us to do. And
today I signed this bill not just in her honor,
but in the honor of those who came before, Women
like my grandmother, who worked in a bank all her life,
and even after she hit that glass ceiling, kept getting
up and giving her best every day without complaint because
she wanted something better for me and my sister. And
(05:52):
I signed this bill for my daughters and all those
who will come after us, because I want them to
grow up in a nation that values their contributions. There
are no limits to their dreams, and they have opportunities
their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined. In the end,
that's why Lily stayed the course. She knew it was
too late for her, that this bill wouldn't undo the
(06:14):
years of injustice she faced or restore their earnings. She
was denied, but this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting
because she was thinking about the next generation. It's what
we've always done in America. Set our sights high for ourselves,
but even higher for our children than our grandchildren. And
now it's up to us to continue this work. This
(06:36):
bill is an important step, a simple fix to ensure
fundamental fairness for American workers. And I want to thank
this remarkable and bipartisan group of legislators who worked so
hard to get it passed. And I want to thank
all the advocates who were in the audience who worked
so hard to get it passed. This is only the beginning.
(06:57):
I know that we stay focused as Lily did, standing
for what's right. As Lily did, we will close that
pay gap, and we will make sure that our daughters
have the same rights, the same chances, and the same
freedoms to pursue their dreams as our sons. So thank you,
Lily like that. It's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It's wonderful. I had hoped and dreamed that this would
be because it would be so significant of our new
president and his carriage of justice for people and what
it is. And he understands. I believe him and his
wife both understand what it's like to be a middle
class American to and you know, most families today, it
(07:39):
takes two people to earn a decent living in this country.
And I think they realize that. And this is one
thing that will allow the women and the minorities to
be paid fairly, and if they are not, then they
will have an option to do something about it.
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied
by Missus Lily Ledbetter.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
The bill that was signed into law. It will allow
people one hundred and eighty days from the time they
learn basically that they're being discriminated against, to file their
charges with the EOC.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
This is a wonderful day. First of all, it is
fitting that the very first bill that I signed, the
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, that it is upholding
(01:03):
one of this nation's founding principles, that we are all
created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our
own version of happiness. It's also fitting that we're joined
today by the woman after whom this bill is named,
someone who Michelle and I have had the privilege to
(01:24):
get to know ourselves. And it is fitting that we
are joined this morning by the first woman Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. It's appropriate that there
(01:44):
is the first bill we do together. We could not
have done it without her, Madam Speaker, thank you for
your extraordinary work, and to all the sponsors and members
of Congress and leadership who helped to make this day possible.
Lily led Beetter did not set out to be a
(02:05):
trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good,
hard worker who did her job, and she did it
well for nearly two decades before discovering that for years
she was paid less than her male colleagues for doing
the very same work. Over the course of her career,
she lost more than two hundred thousand dollars in salary
(02:28):
and even more in pension and Social Security benefits, losses
that she still feels today now. Lily could have accepted
her lot and moved on. She could have decided that
it wasn't worth the hassle and the harassment that would
inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead,
(02:49):
she decided that there was a principle at stake, something
worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey
that would take more than ten years, take her all
the way to the Supreme Court of the United States,
and lead to this day and this bill, which will
help others get the justice that she was denied. Because
(03:10):
while this bill bears her name, Lily knows that this
story isn't just about her. It's the story of women
across this country still earning just seventy eight cents for
every dollar men earn women of color even less, which
means that today, in the year two thousand and nine,
countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary,
(03:32):
income and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime.
An equal pay is by no means just a women's issue.
It's a family issue. It's about parents who find themselves
with less money for tuition in childcare, couples who wind
up with less to retire, on households where one bread
winner is paid less than she deserves. It's the difference
(03:56):
between affording the mortgage or not, betweeping the heat on,
or paying the doctor bills or not. And in this economy,
when so many folks are already working harder for lessons
struggling to get by, the last thing they can afford
is losing part of each month's paycheck to simple and
plain discrimination. So signing this bill today is to send
(04:23):
a clear message that making our economy work means making
sure it works for everybody, that there are no second
class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just
unfair and illegal, it's bad for business to pay somebody
less because of their gender, or their age or their
race or their ethnicity, religion, or disability. And the justice
(04:46):
isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a
case book. It's about how our laws affect the daily lives,
in the daily realities of people, their ability to make
a living and care for their families and achieve their goals. Ultimately,
equal pay isn't just an economic issue for millions of
Americans and their families. It's a question of who we
(05:07):
are and whether we're truly living up to our fundamental ideals,
whether we'll do our part as generations before us, to
ensure those words put on paper some two hundred years
ago really means something, to breathe new life into them
with a more enlightened understanding that is appropriate for our time.
(05:28):
That is what Lily Ledbetter challenged us to do. And
today I signed this bill not just in her honor,
but in the honor of those who came before, Women
like my grandmother, who worked in a bank all her life,
and even after she hit that glass ceiling, kept getting
up and giving her best every day without complaint because
she wanted something better for me and my sister. And
(05:52):
I signed this bill for my daughters and all those
who will come after us, because I want them to
grow up in a nation that values their contributions. There
are no limits to their dreams, and they have opportunities
their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined. In the end,
that's why Lily stayed the course. She knew it was
too late for her, that this bill wouldn't undo the
(06:14):
years of injustice she faced or restore their earnings. She
was denied, but this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting
because she was thinking about the next generation. It's what
we've always done in America. Set our sights high for ourselves,
but even higher for our children than our grandchildren. And
now it's up to us to continue this work. This
(06:36):
bill is an important step, a simple fix to ensure
fundamental fairness for American workers. And I want to thank
this remarkable and bipartisan group of legislators who worked so
hard to get it passed. And I want to thank
all the advocates who were in the audience who worked
so hard to get it passed. This is only the beginning.
(06:57):
I know that we stay focused as Lily did, standing
for what's right. As Lily did, we will close that
pay gap, and we will make sure that our daughters
have the same rights, the same chances, and the same
freedoms to pursue their dreams as our sons. So thank you,
Lily like that. It's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It's wonderful. I had hoped and dreamed that this would
be because it would be so significant of our new
president and his carriage of justice for people and what
it is. And he understands. I believe him and his
wife both understand what it's like to be a middle
class American to and you know, most families today, it
(07:39):
takes two people to earn a decent living in this country.
And I think they realize that. And this is one
thing that will allow the women and the minorities to
be paid fairly, and if they are not, then they
will have an option to do something about it.
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