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JOHN McCAIN'S RECORD ON WAGES

Sen. John McCain has a record of opposing policies that support jobs with good wages and benefi ts. He voted to eliminate the minimum wage and to undercut prevailing wage laws. John McCain voted to gut workers’ overtime protections and opposed equal pay protections. McCain’s priorities should help rather than hurt families.

McCAIN OPPOSED RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

2007: McCain Voted to Abolish the Minimum Wage. McCain joined 28 senators in voting to allow “states the rights and flexibility to determine minimum wage” during the 2007 minimum wage fight. This amendment would have completely repealed the minimum wage laws in at least 45 states. After several other votes that prevented the passage of a “clean” minimum wage bill, he voted to pass the final compromise bill that included tax breaks for businesses. (S.Amdt. 116 to S.Amdt. 100 to H.R. 2, Vote 24, 1/24/07; H.R. 2, Vote 23, 1/24/07; Vote 25, 1/25/07; Vote 37, 1/31/07; Vote 39, 1/31/07; Vote 42, 1/31/07)

2005: McCain Voted Against Raising the Minimum Wage to $7.25 an Hour. Instead, He Voted for a Sham Increase That Would Take Away Overtime Protections. In 2005, McCain voted against increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour over two years. Instead, he voted for an amendment that would have increased the minimum wage to $6.25 while also eliminating overtime pay and undermining states’ ability to provide stronger wage protections. (S.Amdt. 44 to S. 256, Vote 26, 3/07/05; S.Amdt. 128 to S. 256, Vote 27, 3/07/05)

McCain Voted at Least Five Other Times Against Increasing the Minimum Wage. In 1998, 1999 and 2000, McCain voted against increasing the minimum wage. In 1996, he voted to delay a proposed minimum wage increase by six months and reduce the number of workers eligible for it. (S. 2766, Vote 179, 6/21/06; S.Amdt. 3079 to S.Amdt. 2951 to S.C.R. 101, Vote 76, 4/07/00; S.Amdt. 1383 to S. 1429, Vote 239, 7/30/99; S. 96, Vote 94, 4/28/99; S.Amdt. 3540 to S.Amdt. 3559 to S. 1301, Vote 278, 9/22/98; S.Amdt. 4272 to H.R. 3448, Vote 183, 7/06/96)

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)

• But McCain Supported Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest Americans. McCain voted for $60 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, with more than three-quarters of the benefits going to families with $100,000 or more in annual income. (S. 2020, Vote 26, 11/18/05)

McCAIN REPEATEDLY TRIED TO ELIMINATE PREVAILING WAGES

McCain Voted Against ‘Sense of the Senate’ Support for Davis-Bacon. McCain voted to table a “sense of the Senate” measure saying the Davis-Bacon Act, which protects workers’ paychecks on public construction projects, should not be repealed. (S Amdt. 4031 to S.C.R. 57, Vote 134, 5/22/96)

McCain Opposed Paying Fair Wages to Workers Helping Us Recover from Disasters.

• McCain Opposed Applying Davis-Bacon to Federal Disaster Areas. McCain supported an amendment to prohibit application of Davis-Bacon requirements for fair wages in declared federal disaster areas. His position would have undercut the wages of people working in the harshest conditions. (S.Amdt. 1844 to S. 1650, Vote 320, 10/7/99)
• McCain Voted to Waive Davis-Bacon Standards for Rebuilding Los Angeles and Chicago. McCain voted for an amendment that would have waived Davis-Bacon and Service Contact Act provisions for repairs in Los Angeles following riots and Chicago following a flood. (S.Amdt. 1851 to H.R. 5132, Vote 105, 5/21/92)

McCain Repeatedly Supported Exceptions to Prevailing Wage Rules.

• McCain Voted for Davis-Bacon Exemptions for Safe Drinking Water Act Construction Projects. McCain voted to exempt communities from Davis- Bacon requirements for any construction or repair work under the Safe Drinking Water Act. (S.Amdt. 1730 to S. 2019, Vote 119, 5/19/94)
  
• McCain Voted to Exempt Federally Subsidized Housing Developments from Davis-Bacon Requirements. McCain voted twice to exempt contractors building federally subsidized housing developments from Davis-Bacon laws, allowing them to undercut union contractors. (S.Amdt. 765 to H.R. 2916, Vote 181, 9/19/89; S.Amdt. 2052 to S. 566, Vote 122, 6/21/90)
  
• McCain Voted to Exempt Military Construction Contracts from Davis-Bacon Protections. McCain voted to exempt 80 percent of military construction contracts from the fair-wage standards of Davis-Bacon law. (H.R. 4428, Vote 406, 8/15/86)
  
• McCain Voted to Eliminate Davis-Bacon Protections for Projects Under the National Development Investment Act. McCain voted to remove Davis-Bacon protections from local construction projects under the National Development Investment Act. (H.R. 10, Vote 239, 7/12/83)

McCain Voted to Create a New Class of Laborers Not Subject to Prevailing Wage Laws. McCain voted to allow the Bush administration to create a new class of workers called “helpers,” who would have no formal training and would not fall under Davis-Bacon wage protection requirements. (H.R. 2518, Vote 289, 9/28/93)

PROTECTING WORKERS IN BANKRUPT COMPANIES

McCain Voted Against Protecting Workers’ Vacation and Severance Pay from Bankruptcy. McCain voted against protecting workers from losing vacation and severance pay when their employers declare bankruptcy. The credit card industry and the banking community joined the Bush administration in pushing a bankruptcy bill that made it more difficult for working families to secure bankruptcy protection from the courts. (S. 256, Vote 32, 3/9/05)

OVERTIME, EQUAL PAY AND FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE

McCain Voted to Disqualify Millions of Workers from Overtime and Equal Pay Protections. McCain supported an amendment that would have disqualified as many as 10 million workers at firms with less than $1 million in annual revenue from minimum wage, overtime pay and equal pay protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act. (S.Amdt. 128 to S. 256, Vote 27, 3/7/05)

McCain Voted Against Protections for Workers’ Overtime Pay. McCain voted against protecting workers’ overtime pay from Bush administration rules that threatened the overtime rights of 6 million workers. Previously, he opposed a measure prohibiting the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing any regulation that would take away overtime protection from workers. (S. 1637, Vote 79, 5/4/04; S.Amdt. 1580 to H.R. 2660, Vote 334, 9/10/03)

McCain Opposed Equal Pay Bill for Women, Said They ‘Need Education and Training’ Instead. McCain skipped a vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that would ensure women have the opportunity to recover back pay for discrimination once they discover it. If he had been there to vote, he said he would have voted against it and that women “need education and training” rather than an equal pay bill. The bill addressed a recent Supreme Court decision that said Steelworker Lilly Ledbetter could not recover back pay for 19 years of discrimination at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. because she had not discovered the unequal pay until she retired. The bill would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to allow employees to file charges of pay discrimination within 180 days of the last received paycheck affected by the discrimination. (H.R. 2831, Vote 110, 4/23/08; Associated Press, 4/28/08)

McCain Voted Against More Effective Remedies for Victims of Wage Discrimination. In 2000, McCain opposed a measure to “provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex.” (S.Amdt. 3847 to H.R. 4810, Vote 203, 7/17/00)

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 Family and Medical Leave Act unless the federal government certified that compliance would not increase business expenses or provide financial assistance to businesses to cover any related costs. (S.Amdt. 16, S. 5, Vote 7, 2/4/93; H.R. 1, Vote 11, 2/4/93)