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President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress are making a concerted election-year push to draw attention to women's wages, linking Obama executive actions with pending Senate legislation aimed at closing a compensation gender gap that favors men.

Obama on Tuesday planned to sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against workers who discuss their pay. He also was to direct the Labor Department to issue new rules requiring federal contractors to provide compensation data that includes a breakdown by race and gender.

The Democratic-controlled Senate this week planned to take up legislation that would make it easier for workers to sue companies for paying women less than men because of gender. The legislation, like Obama's narrower executive order, would forbid companies from punishing workers who share salary information and would allow punitive and compensatory damages in lawsuits

Backed by business groups, Republicans are expected to block the bill when the Senate holds a showdown vote, probably Wednesday. The GOP derailed similar legislation in the Senate the past two election years, 2012 and 2010.

Even so, Democrats are pushing the bill, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., as part of a campaign-season agenda designed to contrast their efforts to help middle-income voters with Republicans and to motivate pivotal Democratic-leaning voting blocs like women.

Obama's executive actions are part of his drive to act on his own when Congress stalls on his policy initiatives. The executive order and the presidential memorandum to the Labor Department are his latest directives on wages, pay disparities and hiring targeting the federal government's vast array of contractors and subcontractors.

The National Labor Relations Board and some federal courts already have said that company pay secrecy rules are prohibited under the National Labor Relations Act. But cases against violators can only be brought by the NLRB on the basis of a complaint. The Senate bill, however, would spell out the prohibition and allow private lawsuits, which could be more financially penalizing than NLRB action.

Obama's executive order could serve as a stricter enforcement tool, said Jeffrey Hirsch, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Hirsch, a former lawyer with the National Labor Relations Board, said such an order also would make federal contractors more aware of the prohibition and "more concerned with the outcome of not getting a contract rather than facing an NLRB case, which has very weak remedies."

White House economist Betsey Stevenson said that directing the Labor Department to compile aggregate compensation data by race and gender could encourage companies to voluntarily close any gaps in their pay, and would "allow for more efficient enforcement when enforcement needs to occur."

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Obama, Senate Democrats Take Aim at Gender Pay Gap

President Obama on Monday announced more than $100 million in grants for two dozen schools across the country that are helping students gain work experience for what he called the "in-demand jobs of the future."

The money, which comes from fees that companies pay for visas to hire foreign workers for specialized jobs, is the result of an executive order Obama signed last year to better prepare high school students for college or for careers. Students are working on "cooler stuff than when I was in high school," Obama said as he announced the grants before cheering high school students in Washington's Maryland suburbs.

A total of 24 schools are being awarded the money after a nationwide competition, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, the New York City Department of Education and districts in Denver, Indianapolis and Clinton, S.C. Obama explained it will allow schools to "develop and test new curricula and models for success. We want to invest in your future," he said.

Obama announced the grants at Bladensburg High School, one of three high schools in Washington's Maryland suburbs that have created a Youth CareerConnect Program that is the recipient of $7 million under the announcement. Students at Bladensburg work on real-world projects with community partners to get ready for college admission or careers. The grant at the school, where more than 70 percent of students are low-income, will expand the Health & Biosciences Academy to prepare more students for careers in the region's fast-growing healthcare field.

Obama visited a 10th grade microbiology class, where he asked the students in lab goggles huddled over microscopes what careers they are interested in. "You on the CSI thing, forensics huh?" the president said to one student.

In another effort to make education more accessible, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Education and Labor departments will run a program to facilitate community college students getting academic credit for apprenticeships in business and industry, in line with the federal job-training revamp that Biden has been charged with leading. Colleges will agree to provide credit for apprenticeships that are certified by an independent group, enabling students to finish their degrees quicker.

Obama also planned to take action Tuesday to use the federal government's vast array of contractors to impose rules on wages, pay disparities and hiring on a segment of the private sector that gets taxpayer money and falls under his control. He was scheduled to issue an order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against workers who discuss their pay and direct the Labor Department to issue new rules requiring federal contractors to provide compensation data that includes a breakdown by race and gender.

The steps, which Obama plans to take at a White House event, take aim at pay disparities between men and women. The Senate this week is scheduled to take up gender pay equity legislation that would affect all employers, but the White House-backed bill doesn't have enough Republican support to overcome procedural obstacles and will likely fail.

The executive actions are designed to let workers discuss and compare their wages openly if they wish to do so and to provide the government with better data about how federal contractors compensate their workers.

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Obama announces education innovation grants

BLADENSBURG, Md. (AP) President Barack Obama on Monday announced more than $100 million in grants for two dozen schools across the country that are helping students gain work experience for what he called the "in-demand jobs of the future."

The money, which comes from fees that companies pay for visas to hire foreign workers for specialized jobs, is the result of an executive order Obama signed last year to better prepare high school students for college or for careers. Students are working on "cooler stuff than when I was in high school," Obama said as he announced the grants before cheering high school students in Washington's Maryland suburbs.

A total of 24 schools are being awarded the money after a nationwide competition, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, the New York City Department of Education and districts in Denver, Indianapolis and Clinton, S.C. Obama explained it will allow schools to "develop and test new curricula and models for success. We want to invest in your future," he said.

Obama announced the grants at Bladensburg High School, one of three high schools in Washington's Maryland suburbs that have created a Youth CareerConnect Program that is the recipient of $7 million under the announcement. Students at Bladensburg work on real-world projects with community partners to get ready for college admission or careers. The grant at the school, where more than 70 percent of students are low-income, will expand the Health & Biosciences Academy to prepare more students for careers in the region's fast-growing healthcare field.

Obama visited a 10th grade microbiology class, where he asked the students in lab goggles huddled over microscopes what careers they are interested in. "You on the CSI thing, forensics huh?" the president said to one student.

In another effort to make education more accessible, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Education and Labor departments will run a program to facilitate community college students getting academic credit for apprenticeships in business and industry, in line with the federal job-training revamp that Biden has been charged with leading. Colleges will agree to provide credit for apprenticeships that are certified by an independent group, enabling students to finish their degrees quicker.

Obama also planned to take action Tuesday to use the federal government's vast array of contractors to impose rules on wages, pay disparities and hiring on a segment of the private sector that gets taxpayer money and falls under his control. He was scheduled to issue an order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against workers who discuss their pay and direct the Labor Department to issue new rules requiring federal contractors to provide compensation data that includes a breakdown by race and gender.

The steps, which Obama plans to take at a White House event, take aim at pay disparities between men and women. The Senate this week is scheduled to take up gender pay equity legislation that would affect all employers, but the White House-backed bill doesn't have enough Republican support to overcome procedural obstacles and will likely fail.

The executive actions are designed to let workers discuss and compare their wages openly if they wish to do so and to provide the government with better data about how federal contractors compensate their workers.

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Obama: Students Need Help To Get 'In-Demand Jobs'

President Obama is asking employers this week to pay men and women equally, while the White House Monday tried to defend Mr. Obamas record of paying female staffers only 88 percent of what men earn.

The president will sign two executive orders Tuesday at the White House promoting gender pay equity among federal contractors. The first order will prohibit contractors from punishing employees who discuss their wages; the second will require contractors to release compensation data along racial and gender lines.

Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett said Mr. Obama on Tuesday also will urge the Senate to pass the Equal Pay Act, which would require all employers to provide data on their pay breakdowns along gender lines.

These protections shouldnt just apply to federal contractors, they should apply to all Americans, Ms. Jarrett said.

While the president is encouraging employers to pay men and women the same, several recent studies have shown that women in the Obama White House earn just 88 cents on average for every dollar earned by a male staffer. White House press secretary Jay Carney, who earns the maximum salary of $172,200, said the presidents record on pay equity is better than the national average.

Nationally, women earn about 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man.

Mr. Carney said women at the White House are paid less overall than men because lower-paid positions might be filled by more women than men. But he said people who hold the same level of jobs are paid the same regardless of gender.

For example, he said, White House Deputy Chiefs of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco and Rob Nabors each are paid $172,200.

Mr. Carney also took the unusual step of reciting the names of 10 top female staffers at the White House and their positions, including Ms. Jarrett and White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler.

We have 16 department heads, Mr. Carney said. Over half of them are women, all of whom make the same salary as their male counterparts.

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Obama plans push for gender paycheck equality

President Obama on Monday opened up taxpayers checkbook for education and continued a hallmark of his presidency working around Congress to dole out billions of dollars in grants to individual states and districts, as long as they enact the kinds of changes the administration wants to see.

But some analysts say the White Houses penchant to throw money out there and hope it sticks on something useful often doesnt work, and there are signs that some of the money hasnt fully achieved its purpose.

SEE ALSO: Obama plans push for gender paycheck equality

The administrations latest effort, the $107 million Youth CareerConnect program, is designed to deliver real-world learning opportunities for students and offer specific training in a given field before a student graduates high school.

Mr. Obama touted the initiative at Bladensburg High School in suburban Maryland on Monday morning. The school received $7 million to, among other things, craft new biomedical programs that will let students earn college credits from the University of Maryland.

We asked high schools to develop partnerships with colleges and employers and create classes that focus on real-life applications for the fields of the future, fields like science and technology and engineering and math, the president said. Part of the reason weve got to do this now is because other countries theyve got a little bit of a lead on us in some of these areas.

The CareerConnect program follows Race to the Top, a massive increase in the size of School Improvement Grants and other examples of the administrations strategy of using money and competition as a way to drive change in the classroom.

Thus far, some specialists say, the approach hasnt been an abject failure, but hasnt been a resounding success, either.

I think they have a mixed record, frankly. Race to the Top was a little different because instead of giving everybody a little bit of money, they insisted that individual states tell them what they would do with the money, said Eric Hanushek, a senior fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution who specializes in the economic analysis of educational issues.

There are other examples where they throw money out there and hope it sticks on something useful, and that almost never works, he continued.

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Obama touts $107M high school career connection program