WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace.

The House was to vote on the bills today, and they could reach Barack Obama’s desk soon after he enters the White House. Unlike President George W. Bush, who issued veto threats against both measures last year, Obama has embraced them.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “very excited” about leading off the new Congress with the labor rights issues. “It is our message to working women in America that we value their work and their time, and that the Congress will not allow them to be discriminated against in the workplace.”

With Democrats padding their majority in the House in the November election, both bills should pass with comfortable margins.

The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult to sue over past pay discrimination. The other bill, the Paycheck Fairness Act, would strengthen the 1963 Equal Pay Act that requires equal pay for equal work.