JOHN McCAIN’S FAILING RECORD ON GOOD JOBS
Sen. John McCain has a record of failing to support policies that encourage good jobs with good wages and benefits. He voted to undermine our wages and cut our overtime eligibility and unemployment benefits and has not supported job-creating construction projects that stimulate our economy.
WAGES
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]
But McCain Supported Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest Americans. McCain voted for a budget reconciliation bill in 2005 that included a $60 billion tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, with more than threequarters 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 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. It would have undercut the wages of people working in the harshest conditions. [S. 1650, Vote #320, 10/7/99]
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, Vote #134, 5/22/96]
McCain Has Repeatedly Supported Exceptions to Prevailing Wage Rules. McCain voted against tabling a proposal to require Davis-Bacon Act wage requirements for contractors on federal drinking water projects. He voted to waive the requirements for workers at Davis-Bacon federal construction projects. McCain voted against tabling a proposal to allow building contractors to pay workers less than the Davis-Bacon Act’s prevailing wage rules. [S. 2019, Vote #118, 5/18/94; H.R. 5132, Vote #105, 5/21/92; H.R. 2916, Vote #181, 9/19/89]
McCain Voted to Create an Underclass 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]
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]
JOB TRAINING AND UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
McCain Would Take Money from Programs Designed to Retrain Workers. McCain said he would reallocate money spent on existing retraining programs to help pay for an unworkable wage insurance proposal. [Detroit Free Press, 12/20/07]
McCain Voted Against a Pilot Program to Provide Low-Interest Loans to Workers in Job Training or Assistance Programs. In 2002, McCain voted to kill an amendment requiring the Labor Department to establish a pilot program providing low-interest loans to workers in job training or job assistance programs to enable workers to continue making their mortgage payments. [H.R. 3009, Vote #119, 5/21/02,]
McCain Opposed Extending Federal Unemployment Insurance Benefits for Jobless Workers. McCain voted against extending the expiring Temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation program for another six months, with an additional 13 weeks of benefits for workers who exhaust their federal benefits while looking for a new job. The amendment also called for unemployment benefits for low-wage workers and workers seeking part-time employment. At the time the program was due to expire, more than 1 million long-term jobless workers were nearing the end of their state benefits. [S. 1054, Vote #152, 5/15/03]
JOB CREATION
McCain Voted Against 2004 and 2005 Highway Bills. McCain voted against the 2004 $318 billion highway and transportation bill that would create about 5 million jobs over six years in new highway and transit construction projects, although Bush said he would only approve up to $256 billion in funding. The legislation contained Davis–Bacon prevailing wage protections. McCain also voted in 2005 against a six-year, $286 billion reauthorization of the federal highway and transit construction program. The infrastructure modernization bill would create 1 million family-supporting jobs, protected by Davis-Bacon prevailing wage standards. [S. 1072, Vote #14, 2/12/04; H.R. 3, Vote #220, 7/29/05]
McCain Opposed $1.6 Billion in School Construction Funding. McCain voted against an amendment that authorized $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2002 to help states and local school districts repair their most dilapidated public school buildings. [S. 1, Vote #108, 5/16/01]
McCain Sought to Eliminate $12.6 Million in Construction Funding. McCain tried to eliminate $12.6 million in construction funding for a research center proposed at Iowa State University. [Des Moines Register, 12/12/99]
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