Washington Free Beacon has what may be a classic Washington story – A group of five Senate Democrats convened a news conference earlier this week to demand passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act. That bill is intended to close the pay gap between male and female employees in the American workplace
So WFB did a little research and discovered that the five might want to take a look at the pay gap on their own staffs.
“Of the five senators who participated in Wednesday’s press conference—Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Patty Murray, D-Wash, Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. —three pay their female staff members significantly less than male staffers,” WFB said.
“Murray, who has repeatedly accused Republicans of waging a ‘war a women,’ is one of the worst offenders. Female members of Murray’s staff made about $21,000 less per year than male staffers in 2011, a difference of 35.2 percent,” the Beacon said.
The pay gap among Feinstein staffers is even wider at 41 percent, while Boxer’s staff has a 7.3 percent gap between men and women, according to the WFB.
When the WFB analysis was extended to 50 Senate Democrats – freshmen senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Chris Coons of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut were excluded due to incomplete data – the pay gap was found in 37 of the offices, with males being paid on average $6,500 more than females.
This is classic Washington hypocrisy – demanding passage of laws the lawmakers themselves don’t follow – and examples of it can be found in both major parties.
Things are no better at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, according to WFB, which previously looked at White House salaries and found that men are paid on average 13 percent more than women.
For more from WFB, go here. Now, who’s up for doing the same analysis on congressional GOP staffs?
