Today the Senate voted against proceeding to a floor debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA), which means this legislation is dead, at least for now. Supporters of the bill needed 60 votes to invoke cloture and proceed to consideration on the Senate floor. The Senate voted 58 to 41 against cloture.

The PFA would have, among other things, required employers to report workers' race, gender and salaries to the government. It also would have imposed more burdensome standards on employers defending pay discrimination claims on the basis that the pay differential is based on a factor other than sex and would have permitted employees to recover compensatory and punitive damages in successful Equal Pay Act lawsuits.