[Bill Hemmer, Cnn Anchor:] President Clinton, this morning, expected to announce a multimillion-dollar plan to promote equal pay between men and women. From the White House live now, here's Chris Black watching this. Chris, good morning.
[Chris Black, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Good morning, Bill. Within the hour President Clinton will be joined by women's soccer star my Michelle Akers to highlight the issue of wage discrimination against women. Ms. Akers and her teammates are boycotting training now because of a compensation dispute with the U.S. Soccer Federation. Even though the women's team has been more successful than the men's, winning the world cup and an Olympic championship, they are paid less. White House officials say the president invited her here today because the wage dispute highlights a bigger principle and a bigger problem. The Department of Labor says that women still only earn 75 cents for every dollar earned by a man. So, to address that inequity, today the president will propose a $27-million increase in education and enforcement of federal laws that require employers to pay men and women equal pay for equal work. Ten million dollars of that will go to Equal Opportunity Employment Commission to train 3,000 employers in equal pay laws and hire 1,000 new inspectors to identify and respond to wage discrimination. The balance of the 17 million will go to the Department of Labor to train women in occupations in which they have been traditionally under-represented, particularly high technology. The president will also today endorse legislation that will toughen federal laws that allow women to collect punitive damages if they have been the victims of wage discrimination. Now, the president has proposed many of these initiatives before, particularly last year, and they went nowhere in Congress. But White House officials say that many of these issues, particularly those involving health care and education, are important to voters, and they're hoping that public pressure will convince the Congress to end Bill.
[Hemmer:] All right, Chris Black from the White House, thanks.