According to Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat from Maryland, women earn 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. Chances of that changing anytime soon was shot down in a cloture vote in the Senate yesterday.

The Paycheck Fairness Bill, S.3220 lost on the Motion to Proceed as Democrats and Republicans lined up on each side of the aisle and voted on party lines. This even as President Obama came out strongly along with other Democrats, the Republicans weren’t swayed.

With a vote of 52 yeas and 47 nays, the bill to amend the Fair Labors Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies for wage discrimination based on gender, will not become reality but will instead be pressed into service as a campaign weapon to gather the women’s vote for the upcoming elections in November.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, when asked why the Republicans were opposed to the amendment to the Fair Labors Act of 1938, had a very short response.

“This is issue is about rewarding plaintiffs lawyers for filing lawsuits,” McConnell said. The Democrats’ “view is America suffers from not enough litigation.”

Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada Said, “There is a lot of work to be done to ensure American women earn comparable pay for a day’s work.” Reid voted against the amendment in a procedural move to insure that it can be resurrected at a later date.

After the Senate vote President released a statement where he said, “It is incredibly disappointing that in this make-or-break moment for the middle class, Senate Republicans put partisan politics ahead of American women and their families. Despite the progress that has been made over the years, women continue to earn substantially less than men for performing the same work.”

On Monday, the day before the vote, Mitt Romney’s spokeswoman pointed out that Romney supported equal pay for women. There were no direct comments on the bill coming up for a vote however.

Alaska’s Senator Mark Begich, after the vote said, “I find it shocking that in the year 2012, there are still people who don’t support equal pay for equal work.”“In Alaska, women earn only 78 cents for every dollar paid to men, which over a lifetime totals about $623,000. Many women in Alaska are the primary wage earner for the family, so this discrimination also hurts our families and children.

“It makes no sense to me how some can say they support women, but then actively prevent women from earning equal pay. This is gender discrimination pure and simple. I’m disappointed and was hopeful we would have a different outcome.”