Senator Barack Obama Democrat | Senator John McCain Republican | |
ECONOMIC EQUITY | ||
Pay Equity | ·1 Voted in favor of Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act [Roll Call 110, 04/23/08] ·2 "I will also increase funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, so that those agencies have the resources and staff they need to process charges filed and effectively remedy equal pay violations." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] ·3 "[B]y increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation, we can help close the wage gap by increasing the pay of low-wage workers who are disproportionately women." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] | ·4 Skipped the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, but told reporters he would have voted against it. [Associated Press, 4/28/08] |
Workplace Flexibility | ·5 "I will support [working parents] by doubling funding for after-school programs and expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover more employees and make the reasons for taking leave more family friendly. … I will also require employers to provide at least seven paid sick days per year and create a new fund to help states provide paid family/medical leave programs. … Other ways we can help include protecting against caregiver discrimination, providing low-income families with a refundable tax credit to help with their childcare expenses, and encouraging flexible work schedules." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] | ·6 Issues of family and medical leave should "be subject to negotiations between management and labor." [Federal News Radio, 7/10/08] ·7 Voted in favor of Family and Medical Leave Act, but also voted to gut the bill before passage. [S.Amdt. 16, S. 5, Vote 7, 2/4/93; H.R. 1, Vote 11, 2/4/93] |
Retirement Security | ·8 "I will stop any efforts to privatize Social Security and will work in a bipartisan way to preserve it for future generations." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] ·9 "[M]y Automatic Workplace Pension program will offer working women left out of the retirement savings system an easy, automatic and productive way to build wealth for retirement. Employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan will be required to automatically enroll their employees in a direct-deposit IRA account (employees will retain the option of opting-out)." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] | ·10 "I’m totally in favor of personal savings accounts… As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it – along the lines that President Bush proposed." [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08] |
Small Business | ·11 "I will increase women’s access to federal contracting opportunities by implementing the Women Owned Business contracting program. … [M]y plan to eliminate capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses will provide meaningful tax relief to 8.7 million women small business owners…" [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] | ·12 Voted against the Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Amendment that would repeal a program that sets aside 10% of highway funds for minorities/women’s business enterprises [Roll Call 23, 3/6/98] |
Child Care | ·13 "Obama will also provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families." [www.barackobama.com] | ·14 Voted in favor of the Snowe Amendment to TANF reauthorization to provide an additional $6 billion in child care funding. [Roll Call 64, 3/30/04] |
HEALTH CARE | ||
Health Research | ·15 "I will see that research is undertaken and attention given to combating diseases and illnesses that disproportionately affect women, like heart disease, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] | ·16 "We need to strengthen health care quality by promoting research and development of new treatment models, promoting wellness, investing in technology and empowering Americans with better information on quality, treatments and costs." [www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org] |
Reproductive Freedom | ·17 "I have been and will continue to be a champion of a woman’s right to choose… [I] have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating… I will continue to defend this right by passing the Freedom of Choice Act as president." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] | ·18 "John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat." [www.johnmcain.com] |
Birth Control | ·19 "I believe in and have supported common-sense solutions like increasing access to affordable birth control to help prevent unintended pregnancies." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] ·20 "In the U.S. Senate, I’ve worked with Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on a bill that would make birth control more affordable for low-income and college women, and introduced the Senate version of Representative Hilda Solis’ bill to reduce unintended pregnancies in communities of color." [Letter to BPW/USA Membership 07/17/08] ·21 Voted in favor of Unintended Pregnancy Amendment that would allocate $100 million for the prevention of unintended pregnancies. [Roll Call 75, 3/17/05] ·22 Voted in favor of Teen Pregnancy Education Amendment that would authorize grants to provide education on preventing teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. [Roll Call 214, 7/25/06] ·23 Voted in favor of insurance coverage for prescription birth control. [Contraceptive Equity in Health Insurance Act, Illinois State Senate, 07/03] | ·24 Voted against Unintended Pregnancy Amendment that would allocate $100 million for the prevention of unintended pregnancies. [Roll Call 75, 3/17/05] ·25 Voted against Teen Pregnancy Education Amendment that would authorize grants to provide education on preventing teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. [Roll Call 214, 7/25/06] ·26 Voted against insurance coverage for prescription birth control. [Roll Call 45, 3/11/03] |