On Friday, U.S. House Representatives Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11) and Nancy Mace (R-SC-1) led a bipartisan group of representatives in a letter to House leadership, urging them to bring the Equal Pay for Team USA Act, which passed the Senate unanimously earlier this month, to the House floor for a vote before the end of the 117th Congress. The legislation, authored by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) requires that all athletes representing the United States in global athletic competitions receive equal compensation and benefits in their sport, regardless of gender. It also would require equal payment for medical care, travel and expenses. 

“This year marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which has significantly increased the opportunities and support our female student athletes receive,” the House members wrote. “To build on these gains, it’s time for Congress to take the next step in our nation’s commitment to gender equity in sports.”

In addition to Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11) and Nancy Mace (R-SC-1), the letter was co-signed by Representatives Katie Porter (D-CA-45), David McKinley (R-WV-1), Kim Schrier (D-WA-8), Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53), Donald Beyer (D-VA-8), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27), Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18) and Deborah Ross (D-NC-2).

Read the full text of the letter here and below:

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and Minority Leader McCarthy,

We write to you today as a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging you to bring S. 2333, The Equal Pay for Team USA Act to the House floor for a vote before the end of the year. With just one week left, we have only a small window of time to take action on this important legislation.

Introduced by Senators Cantwell, Capito, Klobuchar, and Lummis, this bill received significant bipartisan support in the Senate, passing out of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee by unanimous voice vote on June 22, 2022[1] and passing the full Senate by unanimous consent just last week on December 8, 2022[2]. It also has vocal support from many organizations, including the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”).

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which has significantly increased the opportunities and support our female student athletes receive. To build on these gains, it’s time for Congress to take the next step in our nation’s commitment to gender equity in sports.

Although sports’ national governing bodies (“NGBs”) are currently required by law to “provide equitable support and encouragement for participation by women”, they are not required to provide equal compensation and benefits between genders. Female athletes competing on the world stage can be, and often are, paid less and provided less favorable terms of employment than their male counter parts.

Despite these inequities, our female athletes continually excel on the world stage. At the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Team USA won the title and also brought in a 22% higher viewership in the United States for the Final than the Men’s World Cup Final the year before[3]. Earlier this year, we saw the United States Women’s National Team reach a settlement with the United States Soccer Federation that established a policy of paying both the men’s and the women’s teams equally. It’s now time for Congress to act and provide this same level of equality for all women competing on behalf of the United States globally.

The Equal Pay for Team USA Act takes a targeted approach to addressing pay discrepancies that have pervaded the Olympic and Paralympic movement and NGBs for as long as women and girls have been allowed to participate. It requires that the USOPC and NGBs provide all athletes who represent the United States in global amateur athletic competitions, regardless of gender, equal compensation, wages, benefits, medical care, travel arrangements, and expense reimbursement.

It would also shed necessary new light on the USOPC and NGBs’ expenditures by requiring yearly, disaggregated reports to Congress and would address legitimate concerns raised by the USOPC.  For example, it enables the USOPC and NGBs to provide more beneficial terms of participation to make up for disparities, such as the absence of a professional league for one gender, unequal support or compensation by international bodies, and other inequities. It also enables a captain, starter(s), or (an)other distinguished member(s) of a team to make more than their teammates, so long as compensation and benefits among genders are generally equal.

Next year, we will send a team of American athletes to represent the United States at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. When we do, it’s critical that our country stand as a leader in the fight for equality in athletics in not just in one sport, but in all of them.

Sincerely,

Mikie Sherrill, Member of Congress

Nancy Mace, Member of Congress

Sara Jacobs, Member of Congress

Katie Porter, Member of Congress

Donald Beyer, Member of Congress

David McKinley, Member of Congress

Maria Elvira Salazar, Member of Congress

Kathy Castor, Member of Congress

Anna Eshoo, Member of Congress

Deborah Ross, Member of Congress

Kim Schrier, Member of Congress