Anti-troop McCain

Veterans:
McCain Voted At Least 27 Times Against Veteran's Benefits. Since arriving in the U.S. Senate in 1987, McCain has voted at least 30 times against ensuring important benefits for America's veterans, including providing adequate health care. [2006 Senate Vote #7, 41, 63, 67, 98, 222; 2005 Senate Votes #55, 89, 90, 251, 343; 2004 Senate Votes #40, 48, 145; 2003 Senate Votes #74, 81, 83; 1999 Senate Vote #328; 1998 Senate Vote #175; 1997 Senate Vote #168; 1996 Senate Votes #115, 275; 1995 Senate Votes #76, 226, 466; 1994 Senate Vote #306; 1992 Senate Vote #194]

McCain Has Voted At Least 15 Times To Prioritize Tax Cuts And Tax Loopholes For America's Wealthiest Over Funding For U.S. Veterans. Since his election to the Senate in 1987, McCain has voted at least 15 times in favor of keeping tax cuts and various tax loopholes for America's top earners, instead of providing valuable funding for United States veterans. [2006 Senate Votes #7, 15, 41, 63, 67; 2005 Senate Vote #343; 2004 Senate Votes #40, 48; 2003 Senate Votes #74, 81, 83; 1996 Senate Vote #115; 1995 Senate Votes #226, 465, 466]

Women and Families:
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. [Source: aflcio.org; H.R. 2831, Vote 110, 4/23/08; Associated Press, 4/28/08]

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. [Source: aflcio.org S.Amdt. 16, S. 5, Vote 7, 2/4/93; H.R. 1, Vote 11, 2/4/93]

Education:
McCain voted NO on $52M for 21st century community learning centers. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program was established by Congress for school-based centers to plan, implement, or expand projects that benefit the educational, health, social services, cultural and recreational needs of the community. Amendment to Agencies Appropriations Act; Bill [ Bill H Con Res 83 ; vote number 2001-69 on Apr 4, 2001] vote number 2005-279 on Oct 27, 2005]

McCain voted NO on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. Bill to provide an additional $5 billion for title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Voting YES would provide $2.5 billion for targeting grants to local educational agencies and $2.5 billion for education finance incentive grants. Elementary and Secondary Education Amendment; S Amdt 2275 to HR 3010 vote number 2005-269 on Oct 26, 2005.

McCain voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. Vote to adopt an amendment to the Senate's 2006 Fiscal Year Budget Resolution that would adjust education funding while still reducing the deficit by $5.4 billion. A YES vote would:

Restore education program cuts slated for vocational education, adult education, GEAR UP, and TRIO.
  Increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarship to $4,500 immediately.
  Increases future math and science teacher student loan forgiveness to $23,000.
  Pay for the education funding by closing $10.8 billion in corporate tax loopholes.
  [Kennedy amendment relative to education funding; Bill S AMDT 177 to S Con Res 18; vote number 2005-68 on Mar 17, 2005 ]

McCain voted NO on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors. Vote to authorize a federal program aimed at reducing class size. The plan would assist states and local education agencies in recruiting, hiring and training 100,000 new teachers, with $2.4 billion in fiscal 2002. This amendment would replace an amendment allowing parents with children at under-performing schools to use public funding for private tutors. [Reference: Bill S1 ; vote number 2001-103 on May 15, 2001]

McCain voted NO on funding student testing instead of private tutors. Vote to pass an amendment that would authorize $200 million to provide grants to help states develop assessment systems that describe student achievement. This amendment would replace an amendment by Jeffords, R-VT, which would allow parents with children at under-performing schools to use public funding for private tutors. [Bill S1; vote number 2001-99 on May 10, 2001]

McCain voted NO on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. Vote to reduce the size of the $1.6 trillion tax cut by $448 billion while increasing education spending by $250 billion and providing an increase of approximately $224 billion for debt reduction over 10 years. [ Bill H Con Res 83; vote number 2001-69 on Apr 4, 2001]

Children's Health Care:
McCain Voted To Cut, Eliminate, Restrict Health Insurance Coverage for Low Income Children and Pregnant Mothers At Least SIX Times. [SCR 27, Vote #76, 5/21/97; S 949, Vote #149, 6/27/97; HR 4810, Vote #204, 7/17/00; H.R. 976, Vote #307, 8/2/07; S 3, Vote #45, 3/11/03; H.R. 3963, Vote #401, 10/31/07]

McCain Opposed Extending Coverage To Uninsured Children. On October 31, 2007, after President Bush vetoed the first SCHIP re-authorization, McCain again opposed expanding SCHIP to millions of additional children. He voted against a motion to invoke cloture and bring the re-authorization forward for a vote before the Senate. The motion passed 62-33. [H.R. 3963, Vote #401, 10/31/07]

McCain Opposed Reauthorizing SCHIP And Providing Insurance For Millions Of Uninsured Children. In August 2007, McCain voted against passage of H.R. 976, which would have reauthorized the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). According to Knight Ridder, "The Senate proposal would provide coverage to 3.2 million" uninsured children and renew coverage for the 6 million children already covered by the program. The legislation passed 68-31. [H.R. 976, Vote #307, 8/2/07; Knight Ridder, 8/2/07]

McCain Voted Against Allowing Uninsured Parents To Enroll In The Same Plans As Their Children. In 2000, McCain voted against an amendment would allow states to expand coverage under the Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (S-CHIP) to the parents of the children enrolled in the program. The amendment failed 51-47. [HR 4810, Vote #204, 7/17/00]