JD Vance on Jobs

Protecting transgender workers betrays traditionalists

Senator J.D. Vance lashed out at the 'conservative legal movement' after the Supreme Court ruled that gay and transgender employees should be protected from job discrimination. "The conservative legal movement has accomplished two things: libertarian political economy [enforced by judges] and betrayal of social conservatives and traditionalists,' Vance tweeted." [Washington Examiner, 6/15/20]

Opposed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act

The president of the AFL-CIO said in a statement that "Sen. JD Vance likes to play union supporter on the picket line, but his record proves that to be a sham. He has introduced legislation to allow bosses to bypass their workers' unions with phony corporate-run unions, disparaged striking UAW members while collecting hefty donations from one of the major auto companies, and opposed the landmark Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would end union-busting 'right to work' laws and make it easier for workers to form unions and win strong contracts."

Railway Safety Act: Reasonable regulation to enhance safety

He's a lead sponsor of the "Railway Safety Act," S. 576, a bipartisan bill that would mandate a set of new safety standards and fines for the freight rail sector, especially trains carrying hazardous materials.

At a March 2023 hearing on the bill, Vance argued that some in the GOP "seem to think any public safety enhancements for the rail industry is somehow a violation of the free market." The legislation has the support of Senate Democrats and some Republicans but has faced opposition from GOP leadership. It remains stalled.

Put more people to work by rebuilding our industrial base

"Hillbilly Elegy" describes the impact of globalization on Cincinnati, where many of the once-plentiful steel and other factory jobs had moved offshore and left a community struggling economically and with substance abuse issues. "I think the most important lesson is that America is like a house, and the foundation of that house is our own people and our own manufacturing base; we've allowed that industrial base to atrophy," Vance said. "Until that foundation is repaired, I don't want to hear about us being the policeman of the world."

That means "putting more people to work, rebuilding our industrial base, building more stuff, producing more of the things we can rely on--is a better use of American dollars."

Raising minimum wage to $15 is solution from the 1960s

Minimum Wage: Keep or raise federal minimum from $7.25 per hour? If raise, how much?
• Tim Ryan (D): Yes. Voted for a 2019 bill to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. But that's only a minimum: "It's time to cut workers in on the deal and pay them more."
• J.D. Vance (R): No recent position found. In 2016 called a $15 minimum wage a Democrat "solution from the 1960s," and "a medicine worse than the disease."