Earlier this month, the House Appropriations Committee voted to defund an Obama Administration equal pay data collection initiative that shines a light on race and gender wage gaps. Collecting pay data from corporations helps the agencies responsible for enforcing equal pay laws detect pay discrimination.  It also ensures companies are measuring race and gender wage gaps and encourages them to take action to correct these pay disparities. But corporate interests are pressuring Congress to keep pay data hidden—and so far they are winning. The full House and Senate could vote to defund the pay data collection in the coming weeks, so now is the time to fight back.

One of the easiest ways to ensure equal pay is to end secrecy around pay practices that allow race and gender wage gaps to continue. But now some Members of Congress are trying to help their corporate friends keep these gaps hidden from scrutiny. Take action now to stop them.