In a 52-47 vote, the U.S. Senate blocked a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act  this afternoon. With 60 votes needed to proceed to a vote on the bill, Republicans succeeded in blocking pay equity for women for the second time. 

Lilly Ledbetter, whose pay discrimination case  sparked pay equity legislation  that President Obama signed when he first came in office, watched the vote from the gallery.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would help close the pay gap more by providing incentives for employers not to discriminate and men and women would be given equal pay for equal work and closes the loopholes of the 1963 Equal Pay Act.

As AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler  wrote today :

Last time the Paycheck Fairness Act came up in the Senate, Republicans unanimously voted against the bill. Tuesday’s vote will show whether many in the Republican Party are really serious when they say they are not conducting a war against women.

Looks like we have the answer.