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January 29, 2009

Mikulski gets first pen used by Obama to sign first bill

President Barack Obama signed his first bill into law today, a measure that gives workers a longer time frame to sue employers for discrimination based on gender or other factors.

After pledging to do so on the campaign trail, Obama signed the bill named for Lilly Ledbetter at an emotional East Room ceremony, attended by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulksi of Maryland.

Mikulski, the senior woman in the Senate, attended the ceremony, and wept as the ceremony unfolded. The lead Democratic sponsor of this year's version of the legislation, Mikulksi received the first pen that Obama used to sign his first bill. (If she ever needed the money, that token could fetch a tidy sum on eBay.)

Ledbetter was a longtime Goodyear employee who sued after learning that her male counterparts were paid more. Ledbetter won a jury verdict in 2003, but the decision was overturned, and the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that she should have filed her case within six months of when the discrimination first happened.

Here's a C-SPAN video of the ceremony.

Posted by David Nitkin at 4:47 PM | | Comments (0)
        

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Annie Linskey covers state politics and government for The Baltimore Sun. Previously, as a City Hall reporter, she wrote about the corruption trial of Mayor Sheila Dixon and kept a close eye on city spending. Originally from Connecticut, Annie has also lived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where she reported on war crimes tribunals and landmines. She lives in Canton.

John Fritze has covered politics and government at the local, state and federal levels for more than a decade and is now The Baltimore Sun’s Washington correspondent. He previously wrote about Congress for USA TODAY, where he led coverage of the health care overhaul debate and the 2010 election. A native of Albany, N.Y., he currently lives in Montgomery County.

Julie Scharper covers City Hall and Baltimore politics. A native of Baltimore County, she graduated from The Johns Hopkins University in 2001 and spent two years teaching in Honduras before joining The Baltimore Sun. She has followed the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pa., in the year after a schoolhouse massacre, reported on courts and crime in Anne Arundel County, and chronicled the unique personalities and places of Baltimore City and its surrounding counties.
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