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Joseph Lieberman on Jobs
Democratic Jr Senator (CT), ran for V.P. with Gore, ran for president 2004
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Raise minimum wage to $7.00
Q: What increases, if any, do you favor in the $5.15 an hour federal minimum wage?A: It simply isn't possible to make ends meet at $5.15 an hour in most places in the country.
Workers need to make enough to have a decent life. We should raise the minimum wage to $7.
Source: Associated Press policy Q&A, "Minimum Wage"
Jan 25, 2004
For counter-cyclical farm subsides, despite criticism abroad
Q: Would you change the "subsidy mentality" of the farm program to a market-based program? LIEBERMAN: First, agriculture is a critical part of American economic life and American history. Second, the 2002 farm bill, which I supported, improved the
previous program with a series of counter-cyclical subsidies that I think are appropriate. So right now I would say, no. It's very hypocritical when Europe criticizes us for our farm subsidies when, in fact, they have larger subsidies than we do.
Source: Democratic 2004 Presidential Primary Debate in Iowa
Jan 4, 2004
Fact Check: Claims Bush cost US 3.5M jobs - really only 2.7M
FACTCHECK on Jobs: Democrats persist in getting this wrong. DEAN: "This president has lost 3 million jobs. 3 millions jobs lost is 3 million too many."
LIEBERMAN: "Three and half million people have lost their jobs."
FACTCHECK: In fact, as of
November the job loss since President Bush took office in January 2001 stood at 2.26 million, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even at the worst point of the job slump last August the job loss was 2.7 million-not 3 million or 3.5 million.
Note: Many Democrats like to cite the loss in PRIVATE SECTOR jobs, not TOTAL employment. Focusing only on private-sector jobs ignores the tens of thousands of new government workers hired-including federal airport security workers-and makes the job slump
sound worse than it was. But even the loss of PRIVATE-SECTOR jobs under Bush now stands at 2.7 million according to most recent statistics. It did go to 3.2 million at the worst of the slump, which is when many Dems started using the 3-million figure.
Source: (X-ref Dean) FactCheck.org: 2004 Primary Debate in Durham NH
Dec 9, 2003
To stimulate jobs, repeal tax cuts & support trade
Q: What would you do to stimulate job growth in this country? A: For me it begins with taking back the Bush tax cuts for the highest income Americans and redirecting that money to tax cuts that will reward business for investing and creating jobs.
The money will also be used to invest in innovation, education, and job training, which are the keys to future economic growth. I support trade as a way to open up markets around the world. And I will create a pro-manufacturing jobs program.
Source: Concord Monitor / WashingtonPost.com on-line Q&A
Nov 3, 2003
Build on Clinton-Gore record on taxes and jobs
The debate going on is really about whether we want to take the Democratic party back to where it was before Bill Clinton transformed it in 1992, or whether we want to take it forward. And some of my opponents here want to repeal all the tax cuts.
That would mean a middle-class tax increase. Bill Clinton was for a middle-class tax cut. Some forget that Bill Clinton was for trade that created jobs. I want to build on the Clinton-Gore record, and create 10 million new jobs in 4 years.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Sep 25, 2003
Lifetime opportunity for training
The way to grow the economy is to invest in people, to invest in innovation, to have the federal government put money in the kind of research that will create the new high-tech and bio-tech industries that will create the millions of new jobs. And one of
the ways we do that is having the federal government partner with business, give business tax incentives to invest and grow and create jobs. And then, use public money to give lifetime opportunities for training and retraining to America's workers.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Sep 25, 2003
Trade creates jobs, despite it being unpopular to unions
Q: As president, what would be the least popular, most right thing you would do?LIEBERMAN: I know perfectly well after 30 years in public life what you have to say to any crowd to get a round of applause.
But if I'm before a labor group and I believe that trade creates jobs, I'm going to say that. That's what being president is all about: having a clarity of judgment and the courage to stick with it.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Sep 25, 2003
Commitment to labor & working families stressed
Lieberman went to a pre-dawn visit to a bakery, recalling one where his father worked. He sounded sharply populist themes as he greeted construction workers, watched a little football at a pub in Philadelphia and shook hands with workers changing
late-night shifts in Michigan. “If the labor movement were a religion, and in some ways it is, Flint, Michigan, would be a holy city. This team is going to work its heart out for the hardworking middle-class families of America,” Lieberman said.
Source: AP Story, NY Times
Sep 4, 2000
For minimum wage; against labor on free trade
His vote in 1996 in favor of overhauling the welfare system lost him friends among liberal Democrats. And his consistent support of international trade measures like NAFTA and favorable trade relations with China runs against the views of organized labor
On the other hand, on other issues of primary importance to the unions like increases in the minimum wage and prohibitions against employers’ hiring permanent replacements for striking workers, Lieberman has taken labor’s side.
Source: David E. Rosenbaum, NY Times, p. A19
Aug 8, 2000
Small business drives job creation
Lieberman recognizes that America’s small businesses are the principal driver of new job creation. Small businesses employ 53% of the nation’s workforce and generate 51% of the country’s gross domestic product. Through his work on the committee,
Lieberman has supported a range of programs and services offered by the Small Business Administration, including Small Business Development Centers, the Small Business Investment Corporation, the 504 loan program, and Women’s Small Business Centers.
Source: Senate web site, “Issues Focus: Budget & Economy”
Aug 7, 2000
Train local workers to reduce dependence on foreign labor
Lieberman today hailed $1.5 million in federal funding designed to help reduce Connecticut’s dependence on foreign labor by training workers in information technology and health care. “For the New Economy to thrive, we must teach new skills to workers
charged with undertaking increasingly complex jobs,” Lieberman said. “While it’s important that young people learn these new skills, it’s equally important that traditional workers are given the tools to adapt to their changing working environments.”
Source: Press release, “Bridgeport skills center”
Feb 14, 2000
Voted NO on repealing Clinton's ergonomic rules on repetitive stress.
Vote to pass a resolution to give no enforcement authority to ergonomics rules submitted by the Labor Department during the Clinton Administration. These rules would force businesses to take steps to prevent work-related repetitive stress disorders
Bill S J Res 6
; vote number 2001-15
on Mar 6, 2001
Voted NO on killing an increase in the minimum wage.
The Kennedy (D-MA) Amdt would have increased the minimum wage by $1 an hour over two years, to $5.65 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2001. The Kennedy Amdt would have also provided $9.5 billion in tax cuts over five years.
Status: Motion to Table Agreed to Y)50; N)48; NV)2
Reference: Motion to table Kennedy Amdt #2751;
Bill S. 625
; vote number 1999-356
on Nov 9, 1999
Voted NO on allowing workers to choose between overtime & comp-time.
This bill would have allowed workers to choose between overtime and compensatory time.
Status: Cloture Motion Rejected Y)53; N)47
Reference: Motion to invoke cloture on a Committee amdt to S. 4;
Bill S. 4
; vote number 1997-68
on May 15, 1997
Voted YES on replacing farm price supports.
Replaces farm price supports with seven years of annual fixed payments.
Status: Bill Passed Y)64; N)32; NV)4
Reference: Agriculture Market Transition Act of 1996;
Bill S. 1541
; vote number 1996-19
on Feb 7, 1996
Protect overtime pay protections.
Lieberman signed a letter from 43 Senators to the Secretary of Labor
To: Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
Dear Secretary Chao:
We write to express our serious concerns about the Department's proposed regulation on white collar exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act. These sweeping changes could eliminate overtime pay protections for millions of American workers.
We urge you not to implement this new regulation that will end overtime protections for those currently eligible. Under current law, the FLSA discourages employers from scheduling overtime by making overtime more expensive. According to a GAO study, employees exempt from overtime pay are twice as likely to work overtime as those covered by the protections. Our citizens are working longer hours than ever before – longer than in any other industrial nation.
At least one in five employees now has a work week that exceeds 50 hours. Protecting the 40-hour work week is vital to balancing work responsibilities and family needs. It is certainly not family friendly to require employees to work more hours for less pay.
Overtime protections clearly make an immense difference in preserving the 40-hour work week. Millions of employees depend on overtime pay to make ends meet and pay their bills for housing, food, and health care. Overtime pay often constitutes 20-25% of their wages. These workers will face an unfair reduction in their take-home pay if they can no longer receive their overtime pay.
We urge you not to go forward with any regulation that denies overtime pay protections to any of America's currently eligible hard-working men and women.
Source: Letter from 43 Senators to the Secretary of Labor 03-SEN4 on Jun 30, 2003
Rated 100% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a pro-labor voting record.
Lieberman scores 100% by the AFL-CIO on labor issues
As the federation of America’s unions, the AFL-CIO includes more than 13 million of America’s workers in 60 member unions working in virtually every part of the economy. The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. To accomplish this mission we will build and change the American labor movement.
The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.
Source: AFL-CIO website 03n-AFLCIO on Dec 31, 2003