Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is taking heat from liberals online for missing a vote on whether the Senate should consider a pay equity bill, drawing unfavorable contrasts with her lead role pushing former Sen. Al Franken out of the Senate over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked consideration of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which Democrats say would bring about equal pay between men and women. The vote was 50-49, with Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, the only missing senator. In the evenly divided Senate, ties are broken by Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Sixty votes are needed in the Senate to begin debate on legislation.
GOP BLOCKS PAY EQUITY MEASURE IN SECOND FILIBUSTER OF PARTISAN STALEMATE
Republicans contend the legislation, passed by the House in April, is a gift to the trial lawyers and would only harm businesses.
Although Gillibrand’s presence at the vote would not have made a difference, as Democrats needed 60 votes to move the bill to a final simple majority vote, liberals on social media lashed Gillibrand for being absent.
“60 votes were needed. Not a single Republican voted for equal pay for women. Not one. Odd that Gillibrand missed the vote given this is one of her main issues,” activist and feminist Amy Siskind wrote on Twitter.
“Kirsten Gillibrand can f*** off forever for missing the Paycheck Fairness Act vote,” Play-PerView host Jeremy Wein tweeted.
The missed vote also caused “Al Franken,” the former Minnesota Democratic senator, to trend as a topic on Twitter.
Gillibrand was the first senator to call on her now-former colleague, Franken, to resign in 2017 following several allegations of sexual misconduct. Franken resigned from office in January 2018.
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“Yesterday, the Senate failed to advance the Paycheck Fairness Act, as it required 60 votes. This was legislation to fix wage gap by gender. All 8 female GOP Senators voted against Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand didn’t show up. You know who WOULD have shown up to vote? Al Franken,” said Duty to Warn, a liberal Twitter account of mental health professionals, told its more than 139,000 followers.
A spokesman for the senator, Evan Lukaske, said of the situation, “Sen. Gillibrand has long been a champion of the Paycheck Fairness Act but had a commitment to the Marines for an event at the United States Marine Corps War Memorial. When it was clear the Republican would filibuster the bill, she honored her commitment.”
