US House passes equal pay bill in latest women’s soccer win

NEW YORK: The House has passed a bill that ensures equal compensation for women competing in international events, a piece of legislation that came out of the US women’s soccer team’s long battle to be paid as much as the men.

The Equal Pay for Team USA Act, passed late Wednesday, will require all athletes representing the US in global competition to receive equal pay and benefits in their sport, regardless of gender. It covers America’s 50-plus national sports and requires the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee to handle oversight.

The bill had earlier passed the Senate with unanimous support. It now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.

In a speech Wednesday night on the Senate floor, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Virginia), called the bill a fitting way to cap off 2022, which marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark law that promoted gender equity in sports.

“I ... want to thank heroes like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, who brought that case against US Soccer,” Cantwell said of the American soccer stars, whose World Cup victory in 2019 provided the backdrop for the start of the effort. “US women’s soccer led the charge after winning the World Cup and making it clear to everyone that women athletes deserve equal pay.”

The bill stems from a federal gender discrimination lawsuit the US women filed against US Soccer in 2019. Earlier this year, the women signed a new collective bargaining agreement that included identical pay structures for men and women and equitable distribution of World Cup prize money.

Over the past decade, most Olympic sports in the US have met USOPC standards regarding equal compensation. But there remained