PRESIDENT COURTS BUSINESS SUPPORT FOR AID PACKAGE

Executives offer no public backing for $15 minimum wage

President Joe Biden on Tuesday pressed business leaders to back his $1.9 trillion economic aid package, but received no public declarations of support for a $15 minimum wage that is part of the legislation and that the president has said is vital to providing relief for struggling Americans.

Biden hosted a group including the top executives of Walmart, Gap Inc. and JPMorgan Chase in the Oval Office as part of his push to rally support for his American Rescue Plan, which the House Education and Labor Committee began debating on Tuesday.

But some of the attendees, including Doug McMillon of Walmart and the chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, have said they oppose Biden’s proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour from $7.25.

The president acknowledged some disagreements, telling reporters before the meeting that “we’re approaching this issue to see if we can find some common ground.” He expressed optimism that he and Democrats on Capitol Hill would succeed in winning broad-based support for the plan, citing his experience with persuading opponents on other issues.

“I know I have found some common ground with some of my Republican friends,” he said.

But there was no immediate sign of a new agreement between Biden and his guests on the minimum wage or any other issue. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, was noncommittal in a statement after he left the White House.

“We had a constructive and detailed conversation that covered a lot of ground — the urgent struggles of so many Americans, a path to a sustainable and equitable economic recovery, and the future of American competitiveness,” Dimon said.

Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with McMillon, Donohue, Dimon, Sonia Syngal of Gap Inc. and Marvin Ellison of Lowe’s Cos. Executives and administration officials called the 90-minute meeting fruitful and said Biden discussed raising wages, expanding the use of income tax credits and other ways to help stimulate the U.S. economy as the country continues battling the coronavirus pandemic.

Dimon talked up the idea of an augmented earned-income tax credit, which could help increase pay for people at the lower end of the earning spectrum, as well as the need for creating clearer policy initiatives around issues of immigration, education and infrastructure that could benefit the economy over time, according to one person briefed on the details of the meeting.

Syngal spoke about the large numbers of women and people of color who work in retail, noting that the heavier toll the pandemic has taken on both groups has meant that the need for government aid in her industry seems especially pointed. McMillon, whose company raised wages for 165,000 hourly workers last year, spoke about Walmart’s approach to employee pay and its role in distributing vaccines, the person said.

Biden’s rescue plan includes direct payments of $1,400 per person for individuals earning up to $75,000 a year and, in a change Democrats agreed to this week, a rapid phase out in payments so that no household with income above $200,000 a year receives a check.