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.
