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Romney Refuses To Say Whether He Would Sign Lilly Ledbetter Pay Equity Law

In an interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer that will air tonight, Mitt Romney refuses to say whether he would sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, a law that helps women hold accountable employers who discriminate in the pay practices based on gender. Asked about the law, Romney said he supports equal pay for women and has no plans to change the law, but wouldn’t say if he would have signed it, laying out the odd standard that he won’t weigh on “prior laws”:

DIANE SAWYER: I want to talk about a couple of issues relating to women. This 19 point difference between you and the president on women. Here are some specific questions. If you were president — you had been president — would you have signed the Lilly Ledbetter Law?

MITT ROMNEY: It’s certainly a piece of legislation I have no intend — intention of changing. I wasn’t there three years ago —

DIANE SAWYER: But would you have signed it?

MITT ROMNEY: — so I — I’m not going to go back and look at all the prior laws and say had I been there which ones would I have supported and signed, but I certainly support equal pay for women and — and have no intention of changing that law, don’t think there’s a reason to.

Previously, the Romney campaign said the presumed GOP nominee would not seek to change existing laws. That came after the campaign had said they weren’t sure where Romney stood on it.

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Romney’s suggestion that he won’t revisit prior law when it comes to Lilly Ledbetter is unusual, especially considering that he’s had no problem saying that he would have vetoed and will work to repeal plenty of laws, such as the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.