John McCain Votes Against Fair Shake For Workers
America got a frightening look at what might have been if John McCain had been elected President. The Senate voted on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a decent law that seeks to amend an injustice and provide a fair shot at equality in the workplace.
The law stems from a lawsuit filed by Lilly Ledbetter, who discovered after years of working for her employer that she was being paid less than her coworkers because she was a woman. Her suit was denied, not on the grounds of her complaint, but on the grounds that Ledbetter had not filed suit within a few months of being employed.
Anyone with a sense of basic fairness can see the problem with this ruling. How on earth could Lilly Ledbetter have filed suit in the first few months after she was hired, if she didn’t find out about the pay discrimination until years later?
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act simply remedies the problem behind the injustice to Ledbetter – and other workers like her. It says that workers cannot be expected to file suit for compensation for wage discrimination before they actually find out that they’ve been discriminated against.
There should have been unanimous support for this bill in the Senate. In fact, several Republicans did cross the aisle to vote in favor of it. However, John McCain and 35 other Republican senators cast a blockheaded vote against basic fairness on the job. Their names are:
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Lamar Alexander of Tennessee John Barrasso of Wyoming Robert Bennett of Utah Christopher Bond of Missouri Sam Brownback of Kansas James Bunning of Kentucky Richard Burr of North Carolina Saxby Chambliss of Georgia Tom Coburn of Oklahoma Thad Cochran of Mississippi Bob Corker of Tennessee John Cornyn of Texas Mike Crapo of Idaho Jim DeMint of South Carolina John Ensign of Nevada Michael Enzi of Wyoming Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Charles Grassley of Iowa |
Judd Gregg of New Hampshire Orrin Hatch of Utah James Inhofe of Oklahoma John Isakson of Georgia Michael Johanns of Nebraska Jon Kyl of Arizona Richard Lugar of Indiana Mel Martinez of Florida John McCain of Arizona Mitch McConnell of Kentucky James Risch of Idaho Pat Roberts of Kansas Jeff Sessions of Alabama Richard Shelby of Alabama John Thune of South Dakota David Vitter of Louisiana George Voinovich of Ohio Roger Wicker of Mississippi |
In spite of these backwards Republicans, the bill passed the Senate. However, it’s fair to say that, if John McCain had been elected President, he would have used his power to veto the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and frustrated the ability of workers to seek compensation when they are discriminated against. Thank goodness we don’t have to live in that alternative reality.
[...] few days ago, we wrote with concern about how it might have been if John McCain had been elected President and been in position to veto [...]
Mc Cain is running so hard to the right (re-election time) that he will soon be in the lap of Lush Limpballs.