More Of John McCain's Past Votes On Issues

  I am bringing you small bits of the votes that John McCain has taken in the past on such things as worker rights, minimum wages increases, and on and on. So look at a few of these, will you?

McCAIN OPPOSED A MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE

McCain Voted Against a Clean Minimum Wage Increase for Working Families. McCain voted with the Republicans in 2007 to stall a clean minimum wage increase for working families—before bowing to public pressure and voting to pass the final bill that included tax breaks for businesses. He even voted to completely repeal the minimum wage laws in 45 states and allow the other five states to opt out of any future minimum wage increases above $5.15 an hour. [H.R. 2, Vote #23, 1/24/07; Vote #24, 1/24/07; Vote #25, 1/25/07; Vote #37, 1/31/07; Vote #39, 1/31/07; Vote #42, 1/31/07; S. 2766, Vote #179, 6/21/06; S. 256, Vote #26, 3/7/05]

McCain Called Connecting the Minimum Wage Debate to Senate Pay Raises ‘A Clever Ploy.’ When the Senate was debating a minimum wage increase in 2006 and the Senate’s many pay raises over the past decade were brought up, McCain called the comparison “a very clever ploy.” He defended his opposition to the minimum wage increase, saying he had foregone Senate pay raises, “…sometimes to the dismay of my family.” However, McCain’s 2005 personal financial disclosure reported that his family held assets worth between $27 million and $42 million, which generated income between $1.8 million and $4.6 million. Clearly his situation is not comparable to that of working families making the minimum wage. [ABC News, 7/2/06; McCain 2005 Personal Financial Disclosure Statement]

OVERTIME

McCain Voted Against Protections for Workers’ Overtime Rights. McCain voted against protecting workers’ overtime pay from Bush administration rules that threaten the overtime rights of 6 million workers. [S. 1637, Vote #79, 5/4/04]

WORKERS’ HEALTH AND SAFETY

McCain Opposed Worker Safety and Ergonomic Standards. McCain voted to block the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from issuing, implementing or enforcing standards to protect workers from ergonomic injuries. [H.R. 4577, Vote #143, 6/22/00]

McCain Voted to Gut the Family and Medical Leave Act. In 1993, before finally voting for the Family and Medical Leave Act, McCain voted to jeopardize leave for millions of workers by gutting the bill. He voted to suspend the act unless the federal government either certified that compliance would not increase costs for business or provided financial assistance to businesses to cover any costs associated with implementing the law. [S. Amdt. 16, S. 5, Vote #7, 2/4/93; H.R. 1, Vote #11, 2/4/93]

  The above comes from the AFL-CIO

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