Wealthy merchants formed this organization, which had many of the same powers as a government:

equal pay act of 1963. the equal pay act, signed in to law by president john f. kennedy on june 10, 1963, was one of the first federal anti-discrimination laws that addressed wage differences based on gender. they felt that this would prevent employers from undercutting future wages for men.

the right answer is d) a conference committee. it is a temporary panel formed by house and senate members in order to reconcile differences in legislation.