WASHINGTON—Tuesday marks Equal Pay Day, a symbolic event dramatizing how much longer it takes a woman to earn as much as a man—and an annual opportunity for Democrats to lambast Republicans for inaction on the issue.
This time it comes amid a presidential campaign where the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, has alienated female voters in droves, leading to GOP fears he could diminish the party’s standing with that key constituency for years to come. Yet once again this year, as President Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers trumpet their equal pay proposals at news conferences and briefings, Republicans have little to offer in return.
“We feel we shouldn’t be playing identity politics, we should be working together to strengthen families,” said Sarah Chamberlain, president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which advocates for pragmatic, center-right policies.
Obama, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski and other Democrats are speaking at a women’s equality event Tuesday morning at the Sewall-Belmont House in D.C., a historic site in the women’s suffrage movement that Obama will designate as a national monument.
