Arbiter: COVID-19 bill must drop min. wage hike
President Biden ‘disappointed’
WASHINGTON — The Senate parliamentarian dealt a potentially lethal blow Thursday to Democrats’ drive to hike the minimum wage, deciding it must fall from a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill the party is trying to speed through Congress, Senate Democratic aides said.
The finding by Elizabeth MacDonough, the chamber’s nonpartisan arbiter of its rules, means Democrats face an uphill battle to boost the minimum wage this year. They propose raising the federal minimum gradually to $15 hourly by 2025, well above the $7.25 in place since 2009.
President Joe Biden was “disappointed,” but respected the parliamentarian’s ruling, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. The Senate has a long tradition of obeying the parliamentarian’s decisions.
“He (Biden) will work with … Congress to determine the best path forward because no one in this country should work full time and live in poverty,” Psaki said.
Democrats are pushing the massive coronavirus relief measure through Congress under special rules to avoid a Senate filibuster by Republicans, a tactic that Democrats would need an unattainable 60 votes to defeat.
But those same Senate rules prohibit provisions with only an “incidental” impact on the federal budget because they are driven chiefly by other policy purposes. MacDonough said the minimum wage provision didn’t pass that test, according to aides.
The decision forces Democrats to make painful choices about the next step on a minimum wage, which has long caused party rifts.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats “are not going to give up the fight” to raise the minimum wage to $15.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, hailed MacDonough’s decision. He said it shows the special procedure Democrats are using to protect the relief bill “cannot be used as a vehicle to pass major legislative change — by either party — on a simple majority vote.”
Republicans oppose a $15 minimum wage as an expense that would hurt businesses and cost jobs. They also say the relief bill is too expensive, not targeted at people and businesses that need it most, and a gift for Democratic allies.
Democratic leaders are likely to face unrest from lawmakers over the minimum wage. They can afford little dissension: Dems have just a 10-vote edge in the House and no votes to spare in the 50-50 Senate.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who leads the near 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Senate Dems should include the wage increase in the relief bill, anyway, and not be stopped by “the advisory opinion of the parliamentarian and Republican obstructionism.”