Equal Pay Act of 1963
In 1942, Republican congresswoman Winifred C. Stanley from Buffalo, N.Y. introduced H.R. 5056, Prohibiting Discrimination in Pay on Account of Sex, which did not pass at the time. The issue languished until 10 June 1963, when Congress passed the Equal Pay Act ("EPA" or the "Act") as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, to "prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers."
Political positions of Mitt Romney
Romney has not put forward a clear statement as to whether he supports and would have signed, or would have opposed, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require that employers prove that differences in pay are based on qualifications, not gender, and extends the statute of limitations for filing claims of wage discrimination. The legislation was opposed by all but two Republicans in the House of Representatives and five in the Senate; and it was the first piece of legislation signed into law by President Obama. Asked in an April 2012 interview if he would have signed the bill had it come before him as president, Romney said, "It's certainly a piece of legislation I have no intention of changing. I wasn't there three years ago. ... I'm not going to go back and look at all the prior laws and say had I been there which ones would I have supported and signed, but I certainly support equal pay for women and — and have no intention of changing that law, don't think there's a reason to." After the topic of equal pay for women was touched on during the second presidential campaign debate between Romney and Obama in October 2012, a top Romney campaign advisor told reporters that Romney was opposed to the passage of the bill at the time but had no plan to repeal it. The following day, the campaign adviser retracted his statement, saying that he was wrong when he said that Romney had been opposed to the act.