[ad_1]
Sitting in the Oval Office with Republican and Democratic elected officials last Friday to advocate for his $ 1.9 trillion Covid humanitarian aid, he made no secret of his skepticism.
“It doesn’t look like we can do it,” he said of the minimum wage hike.
For weeks now, the White House has been trying to manage expectations about the feasibility of pushing forward a minimum wage provision of $ 15 an hour through a larger “bailout” program. Biden first suggested he might not be in Covid’s final relief bill in a pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS, noting his belief that the Senate parliamentarian would determine he was not in line with the fiscal rules that allow a bill to pass with only 51 votes in the Senate.
His comments drawn pushback democratic colleagues, who argued that raising the minimum wage is not only necessary for an economically battered country, but also sound policy. They urged the White House to find ways to bring it into line with reconciliation, push skeptical party members a major increase in the minimum wage to get on board and to consider the procedural nuclear option of having the party – with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the deciding vote – win over the parliamentarian.
“Given the makeup of the Senate, this is our best opportunity, and the right time in the midst of this pandemic, to give millions of workers a long-awaited raise,” Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Chair of the Progressive Caucus, said Thursday during a press call with reporters.
Biden’s suggestion to mayors and governors that they begin to prepare for the absence of a minimum wage hike in the Covid bill suggests what has been hinted elsewhere: He is reluctant to deploy any such options.
“President Biden has been consistent in private and in public with his pledge to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, which is why he included it in his first major law,” the door said. – White House speech, Mike Gwin. “This commitment will remain steadfast, whether or not this is possible through reconciliation.”
The meeting with state and local heads included a broad conversation with Biden, touching on everything from municipal aid to the importance of reopening schools, with Biden sharing his concerns about the impact of closed classrooms on working mothers. But some in the room were keen to push back on his proposal to include the higher $ 15 minimum wage in the $ 1.9 trillion relief package.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, one of four Republicans in attendance, told Biden and the group that he did not think the pay rise was directly related to the immediate problems caused by the pandemic, according to two of the sources. Biden didn’t push off Hogan’s point at the time. There was also no prolonged discussion on the minimum wage. The conversation just continued.
Hogan also urged Biden to help make the package as bipartisan as possible, a point to which another official in the room said the president seemed receptive.
“I really need your help on this,” Biden told the group. “He must be bipartisan.”
Democratic attendees at the meeting included New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. The Republicans were Hogan, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Arlington, Texas Mayor Jeff Williams, and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Heather Caygle contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link