Excerpt from the White House statement:

“…[I]n signing this bill today, I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone. That there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it’s not just unfair and illegal – but bad for business – to pay someone less because of their gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability. And that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory, or footnote in a casebook – it’s about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives: their ability to make a living and care for their families and achieve their goals.”

So a feminist victory, even as reproductive health advocates remain disappointed — and angry — about the stripping of family planning funding from the stimulus package.

Update: Just to clarify, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is the less aggressive of two pay equity bills that have been considered by Congress. The Ledbetter legislation restores the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to the strength it had prior to the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision to deny back pay to Ledbetter. The Paycheck Fairness Act would go further, expanding damages available to victims of pay discrimination and providing funding for further study of the problem. For more on the uncertain future of the Paycheck Fairness Act, read Elana Schor at TPM.

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.