President Barack Obama shamed Congress in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to pass legislation that already exists.  Apparently not briefed by his secretary of labor and attorney general, Obama announced:

That's why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It's 2015. It's time.

But it was June 10, 1963 when Congress passed “The Equal Pay Act of 1963,” which can be found at 29 U.S.C. § 206(d).  It says:

(d) Prohibition of sex discrimination

(1) No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions ….

The 1963 Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) requiring equal pay for both men and women is implemented by regulations published at 29 C.F.R. §1620.1 through §1620.34.  Those very detailed regulations grant extensive powers of investigation and enforcement.  Either government or private plaintiffs in court can employ its authority.

If the Equal Pay Act is not being properly enforced, the Obama administration is responsible.  If there is any inadequacy in how the Equal Pay Act is functioning, those regulations can be amended by Obama’s Cabinet.  Obama is not shy about bypassing Congress.  But Congress enacted this law in 1963.  A president actually does have the power to fine-tune regulations in harmony with the law to ensure that the statute passed by Congress is being fully achieved and enforced.

Meanwhile, of course, President Obama himself pays women in the White House less than men.  “A study released in January showed that female White House staff members make on average 88 cents for every dollar a male staff member earns,” reported The New York Times on April 7, 2014, in an article by Michael Shear and Annie Lowrey.  “As Obama Spotlights Gender Gap in Wages, His Own Payroll Draws Scrutiny.”  The study by the American Enterprise Institute “showed that the median annual salary for women in the White House last year was $65,000, while the median annual salary for men was $73,729. The study was based on White House salary data.”  A July 2014 AEI report found the problem continuing.

On Tuesday, Obama also called for a federal effort to cure disease.  Yet the National Institutes for Health were founded in 1930 for that purpose, from the previous Public Health Service.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were created in 1946 (originally as the Communicable Disease Center).  The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare was created in 1953.  The president’s sentiments offered a nice speech, but not good governance.

Jonathon Moseley is a co-host on the Conservative Commandos Radio Show broadcasting in Philadelphia on WNJC 1360.  He supports his political habit working as a real estate agent and occasional lawyer in Virginia. Contact@JonMoseley.com