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John McCain has failed to support at least two bills that would address fair and equal pay for women and minorities. He has made the statement that for women to get ahead, all they need is more education and training (women already far surpass men in both areas yet are still discriminated against in the work place and business world).
John McCain also did not support the Fair Pay Restoration Act or, a second bill, H.R. 2831: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. However, his public statement as to why he did not support this bill deserves a mention:
“If you eliminate the statutes of limitations, and you make it unending, you may be violating the rights of the individuals who are being sued, whether they’re a man or a woman,” McCain was quoted as saying after the vote."
But something else that also deserves a mention is that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act did not eliminate any statutes of limitations, nor did it attempt to eliminate statutes. In fact it maintained statutes that were already considered unfair by many of the bill’s supporters.
According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
"Finally, the bill maintains the law’s current statute of limitations and limits on back pay recovery. Contrary to opponents’ claims, the bill does not eliminate the statute of limitations. Under this bill, an employee must still file a charge within the statutory filing period after receiving a discriminatory paycheck. Moreover, employees have no incentive to sit on their rights. The bill maintains Title VII’s limitation of two years for back pay recovery. The longer an employee waits, the more back pay is rendered unrecoverable."
So why did John McCain vote against this bill?
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