McCain on Whether He Wants to Raise the Minimum Wage: 'Of Course Not'

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 4:38 PM on October 28, 2008.

Today in an interview with CNBC, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that he wasn't interested in raising the minimum wage:

BARTIROMO: What about a minimum wage increase? Would you consider?

MCCAIN: As long as we take care of small businesses. Small businesses right now -- I see them every day -- they say, You increase the minimum wage, I lay off workers. Is that what we want to do right now? Of course not.

Watch it:





Although today he cited concern for "small businesses," it seems that there's never a good time for McCain to support a wage increase for working Americans.

McCain has voted against a minimum wage increase 19 times. In the past, his excuse for opposing the increase was that it was "attached to other big-spending pork barrel." (In most cases, it was not.)

Tagged as: mccain, min

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.