SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Vice presidential candidate John Edwards (search) promised Thursday that Democrats will move quickly to change the Bush administration's overtime rules if they win the White House next month.
"The first day John Kerry (search) is sworn into office, we're going to reverse the overtime rule," Edwards told about 500 cheering supporters gathered at a town hall meeting.
The Bush administration approved new overtime rules back in August that opponents say will deny overtime pay to millions of people who now qualify for it. Democrats have tried to get them overturned by Congress — including getting measures through the GOP-controlled House and Senate — but have not been successful in getting something signed into law.
The White House and most Republicans support the rules. They said the regulations, the most thorough rewrite of the rules in five decades, are a badly needed update.
Edwards also faulted President Bush for the growing rolls of uninsured Americans, higher drug prices and health insurance premiums.
"This president has no solution. It's all just more of the same," he said. "Here's the truth: The people of Iowa, the people of America cannot take more of the same."
The North Carolina senator also outlined Kerry's plan to give uninsured Americans access to the same health care plan available to Congress and to lower annual premiums by $1,000.
