NEW ORLEANS — Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday that he opposes a Senate bill that seeks equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits.
The Senate had scheduled a late Wednesday vote on the measure, which would make it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination. Both Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, were leaving the campaign trail and returning to Washington to vote for the bill. McCain was skipping the vote to campaign in New Orleans.
“I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems,” the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. “This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system.”
McCain stated his opposition to the bill as he campaigned in rural eastern Kentucky, where poverty is worse among women than men.
