Dems To Force Equal Pay Vote On McCain

Politico:

Democrats have hammered Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) this summer over his vote against legislation pushing equal pay for women and men. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will get a second act in September, as Democrats seek to remind voters that McCain opposed it, according to an e-mail from the Democratic Senate message center. It lists "[e]qual pay legislation" as among the issues the Senate will take up in September.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[IronMikeHouston]

01:28 PM on 09/06/2008

This is exactly the reason congress's approval rating is so low. I work in Houston, Texas. I have worked for two major corporations. I'm now in supervision and I have never seen women get paid lower than a man considering experience and performance. We try to hold on to every performing engineer we have. If we don't pay market conditions, the engineer will leave and that is the last thing we (as a company) want. That is why I left my last job (pay). I didn't need a bill passed by congress to get me more money. People need to take responsibility for their lives.

[DWP]

10:19 AM on 09/06/2008

Good let's see how tough he really is. However, my guess is he will either not show up to vote or he will vote for it. No end to the pandering.

[SEQUOIABISON]

09:23 AM on 09/06/2008

Well, nice to see my democratic friends in Washington are learning to play the political game of gotcha.

This is the exact methodology the republicans use, they get the swing independent voters to vote against their own financial interest by distracting them with divisive issues on the ballot like gay marriage or flag burning amendments, nice work guys this should be a wake up call for all women.

Obama/Biden

[research]

03:17 AM on 09/06/2008

Text of bill:(it's short)

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/~c110QhswUv::

I don't see how would work in practice but for certain rote jobs. In technical companies, each person is a completely unique individual. You cannot look at their paper work and determine what salary they should get. Their supervisor and peers are the only one capable of judging their performance. Generally business relies on the employee to advocate for their own maximum salary. A good supervisor will also advocate for their employees salaries.

You would have to find witnesses to the intent to discriminate based on gender.

A really interesting solution is the Scandinavian one: everyone's salary is published.

[Yermammy]

11:26 PM on 09/05/2008

He said it, let him back it up. Why don't women get paid as much anyway? Cause their little and don't eat as much- wah? Come on. This seems like a no brainer, then again I've always thought women were neato. Equal pay seems plenty fair.

[jrterrier]

01:27 AM on 09/06/2008

another game. maybe mccain will vote present. or won't show up for the vote because he's busy campaigning like obama did when they took a vote on the iranian revolutionary guard. this kind of garbage will turn off the voters. congress can't get its act together to figure out what to do with the high price of gasoline but suddenly can get back in session to hold a vote? besides, now that reid has announced his plans to punish lieberman, he won't have a majority of DEMs and won't be able to bring the senate back in session. without lieberman caucusing with the DEMs, the is a 50-50 split and cheney gets to cast the tie-breaker. so any bets that they'll be able to pull this off?

[MACS]

10:03 PM on 09/05/2008

.
I believe that equal pay for equal work should fall under the term McSamre started his speech with "inalienable rights". I also believe that adaquate affordable health care for all citizens must be considered an "Inalienable right.".

[optech007]

07:41 PM on 09/05/2008

According to the Report of the Secretary of the Senate, Obama's female staff is paid, on average, about $7000 less a year than their males counterparts in his Senate office. ($48,729 vs. $55,962)

[Tommygun264]

08:09 PM on 09/05/2008

All the more reason for the law to get passed.

[jcwtts1]

10:24 PM on 09/05/2008

Does that take into account education? Does it also take into account the negotiation of salary? I don't know about you but when I got hired I asked for more money. They haggled with me, I mentioned something I thought made me more valuable and I got the bump. What I discovered later was that the state salary for the job is a range and if you don't ask they never depart upward. I have people I work with who didn't know that and who never asked for more money, but I have a woman who asked for more than I did and she started higher than me for the same job. I should have asked for more money. She did.

J

[optech007]

11:00 PM on 09/05/2008

I don't know, are all those things (along with hours worked) taken into account when people issue blanket statements like, "Women make less money than men"?

[neocon666]

07:11 PM on 09/05/2008

Fox News will just "report" it as the maverick voting against a Barack Obama sponsored bill designed to raise taxes on the poor.

[SpaceCadet]

05:07 PM on 09/05/2008

If McCain doesn't show up for the vote, that fact should be mentioned in an Obama campaign ad.

[lochnessmonster]

04:59 PM on 09/05/2008

He won't show. He hasn't been in the senate since February. Why go there now? Since 1991 I read he has only voted 32% of the time.

[jacqmac]

06:16 PM on 09/05/2008

Of course he won't show. Mr. National Security didn't even show up to vote on FISA! Obama was THERE-So was HILLARY CLINTON. Does John McCain really CARE about the people at ALL? I think NOT! Oh-and before we get into a debate on FISA and start splitting HAIRS-the man that wants to show that he was a MAVERICK could at least have shown UP to vote. Was this no-show supposed to show how much of a MAVERICK he is? No--he didn't even talk about it while he was busy trying to jump start his campaign. "There are those who use their careers to promote change and there are those who use change to promote their careers." John McCAIN--HAVE YOU recently done ANYTHING AT ALL in your career to support your cry for Change? And WHO are you going to promote this Change for? The 179 organizations represented by the LOBBYISTS in your campaign?

[LillianB]

04:57 PM on 09/05/2008

Yes, please, do that!!!!

Do also confront him & his running mate with
*their abortion policies
*their contraception policies
*their sex ed policies (as well as their views on education on the whole)
*their denial of the freedom to marry whoever one wants (whatever gender - proving that the Republicans wanting "small government, small enough to fit into people's bedrooms")
*their health care policies and the factual differences in insurance options for men & women

Force them to talk about issues. Women's issues, in particular. And let America see the difference between the Bush/Cheney admin & the McCain/Palin ticket is not much more than a bit of lipstick and a POW experience. (Definition of the difference in the latter: McCain was one for four and a half years. Bush has now held the country as one for seven years. America needs to be released.)

[kapauldo]

04:03 PM on 09/05/2008

(linkback) Smart or Dumb? Democrats intend to force McCain to vote on 'Fair Pay Act' [VOTE] - http://www.thriveorfail.com/fd2ab

[jcwtts1]

04:42 PM on 09/05/2008

Only if we resist the urge to do Liberman... if he stops caucusing with us what happens to the count?

J

[happyblackman]

05:21 PM on 09/05/2008

I think "Libelman" would have a lot to answer for if he voted against this bill. His whole thing with the Republicans;to hear him say it, is based on the war. He says he will still caucus with the Dems on non-war issues.

If he abandons this position, he is toast.

[magen]

03:47 PM on 09/05/2008

Betcha he won't show up for this vote.

[ArmyCentrist]

03:27 PM on 09/05/2008

And here's where it gets sticky for McBushie!

[Bitsko]

03:25 PM on 09/05/2008

I'd like to see this do-nothing career politician get the same pay I do.

[JiminNC]

04:34 PM on 09/05/2008

Shhh, he'll take it and leave you with nothing but a campaign sign that says ... You're on your own!