Groups Respond To OMB Director Mick Mulvaney’s Statement That He Hasn’t Thought Further About Halted Equal Pay Requirement; Groups Challenge Rollback As Unlawful

Recent Mulvaney Testimony Contradicts Arguments Made by Administration in Court

Washington, DC – The groups waging a legal challenge against the Trump Administration’s illegal rollback of equal pay protections issued a joint statement in response to recent remarks by OMB Director Mulvaney during Congressional hearings that contradict the arguments made by the Trump Administration in court:

“The Trump Administration’s attempt to dismiss our case and avoid accountability for rolling back critical tools designed to close the wage gap is clearly inconsistent with recent statements of OMB Director Mulvaney. In court, the Administration claimed our suit should be dismissed because OMB was actively reconsidering the equal pay rule. Twice to Congress, Director Mulvaney directly contradicted the Administration’s representations, admitting he ‘has not looked at’ the equal pay rule since September.

Not only does Director Mulvaney’s admission further demonstrate the Trump Administration has no regard for the rule of law, it also makes clear that the Administration is uninterested in rooting out discrimination and addressing pay disparities suffered by millions of Americans.”

Background:

In Congressional testimony, Mulvaney claimed he “has not looked at” the equal pay data collection rule since September, 2017. This is inconsistent with statements the Trump Administration made in federal court, in a February 2018 filing, that the data collection is under review. Director Mulvaney provided a similar response to a Senate committee, although he added the same incorrect analysis that OMB previously relied on to halt the Rule’s implementation. Upon questioning, Mulvaney reiterated the same incorrect analysis in today’s House of Representatives subcommittee hearing.

In attempting to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the rollback, the Trump Administration specifically argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because OMB is involved in a “multi-step reconsideration process” of the data collection that will ultimately result in a final decision regarding whether to move forward with the data collection. It appears from Mulvaney’s Congressional testimony that OMB is not currently reconsidering the data collection.

In light of Mulvaney’s contradictory remarks the National Women’s Law Center, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and Democracy Forward issued the above statement.

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Democracy Forward is a nonprofit legal organization that scrutinizes Executive Branch activity across policy areas, represents clients in litigation to challenge unlawful actions, and educates the public when the White House or federal agencies break the law.

Press Contacts
Charisma Troiano
(202) 701-1781
ctroiano@democracyforward.org

Olympia Feil
ofeil@nwlc.org

Mónica Ramírez
(202) 639-6271
mramirez@lclcaa.org