Rep. Levin Supports Paycheck Fairness Act

Rep. Levin Supports Paycheck Fairness Act

Nearly 50 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act, women continue to be paid less for performing the same job as their male colleagues.  Women are nearly half of the workforce, but still earn just 77 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by a man.  The wage gap hurts everyone – husbands, wives, and children – because it lowers family incomes that pay for essentials.

Rep. Levin and more than 140 other concerned lawmakers recently introduced legislation in the House of Representatives called “The Paycheck Fairness Act.”  The bill [H.R. 377] builds on the landmark Equal Pay Act signed into law in 1963 by closing loopholes that have kept the Act from achieving its goal of equal pay for equal work.  The bill would require employers to show pay disparity is truly related to job-performance – not gender.

Lawmakers Urge Protection for Endangered African Lions

African lions are threatened with extinction in the wild.  The lion’s historic range has been reduced by 75 percent, and the wild population has decreased by over 50 percent during the past three decades.  If action is not taken soon, African lions could disappear in the wild altogether.  

On January 28, Rep. Levin and forty-three other members of the House of Representatives wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, to urge him to begin the process of listing the African lion under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Among other protections, ESA listing would block U.S. hunters from bringing their lion trophies back into this country, making hunting the animals less attractive.

2012 Was the Warmest Year on Record for the Lower 48

It’s official.  2012 was hottest year ever recorded in the contiguous United States, according to a recently released analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.  The average temperature for 2012 was 3.2 degrees above the 20th century average.  In addition to being the nation’s warmest year, 2012 was the second-worst on a measure called the Climate Extremes Index, which measures the occurrence of several types of climate extremes, such as record or near-record warmth, dry spells or rainy periods.

The Week Ahead

Congress is in recess until February 4.  Rep. Levin is home in Michigan meeting constituents and local officials.

You can follow his schedule, here.