Convenient Timing For Gender Discrimination Bill?

In politics, timing is everything. Which is why Harry Reid's Senate scheduling is winning praise throughout the hallways of the National Organization of Women this week.

Tuesday is known as "Equal Pay Day", a date in April chosen each year to represent how far into the year the average woman must work into the new year to meet the average man's salary from the previous year.

Conveniently, Reid, the Senate majority leader, has scheduled debate on the Lilly Ledbetter bill, which would in effect overturn a court ruling that enforced a strict statute of limitations for women who sue companies for pay discrimination.

Lilly Ledbetter was an Alabama tire factory worker who was denied compensation because she did not file her claim within 180 days of finding out that her male counterparts doing equal work made more money than she did. Ledbetter lost a Supreme Court decision last year, and the Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) seeks to get rid of the short period for filing pay discrimination complaints. Ledbetter would not directly benefit from the legislation.

The potential for a Senate vote on Equal Pay Day has been praised in women's rights organizations.

A variety of groups are holding rallies and carrying out a telephone lobbying campaign to push Senate action on this bill. It's unlikely that Senate Republicans will get in the way of this one, even though some have reservations about an open ended statute of limitations.