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House passed President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday morning almost entirely on partisan principles. The bill now goes to the Senate, although it includes a minimum wage increase that the Senate parliamentarian ruled on Thursday cannot be included if Congress uses the budget reconciliation process.
Two Democrats, Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Jared Golden of Maine, voted with Republicans in the vote 219-212. Not a Republican voted for the bill.
Debate on the bill lasted until nearly one in the morning on Saturday.
The bill, called the American Rescue Plan, includes $ 1,400 in direct checks for Americans earning less than $ 75,000, an additional unemployment premium of $ 400 per week, money for vaccine distribution, and funding to help state and local schools and governments. Although earlier coronavirus relief bills have passed with bipartisan support, the bill is expected to pass the House on party principles, with Republicans criticizing the hefty price tag and the inclusion of provisions that ‘they consider unrelated to the crisis.
The House vote came days after the United States passed the grim milestone of 500,000 Americans dead of the coronavirus. Millions of people have lost their jobs due to the economic fallout, and supplemental unemployment assistance established by Congress late last year is expected to expire in mid-March.
The US bailout is widely popular among Americans, gaining support from Republican voters as well as Democrats and Independents. A Morning Consult / Politico poll released Thursday shows 76% of Americans support the package, including 60% of Republicans.
“The need is great. The opportunity is there,” President Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.
The bill expected to pass in the House also includes a provision raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025, although the A parliamentarian of the Senate ruled that the bill cannot include a federal minimum wage increase if Congress uses the budget reconciliation process.
Democrats in Congress opted to use the procedural maneuver known as budget reconciliation to pass the bill, allowing it to be approved by a simple majority in the Senate. Most laws require 60 votes in the Senate to move forward, so the budget reconciliation process allows Democrats – who hold a 50-seat majority – to pass the bill without any Republican votes.
There are strict rules for using the budget reconciliation process, such as the “Byrd Rule,” which requires all provisions of the bill to be budget-related and must not increase the federal deficit after a budget window of 10. years. Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the minimum wage hike did not meet the parameters of the budget reconciliation.
In a statement Thursday, Pelosi said MacDonough’s decision was “disappointing.”
“House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary. Therefore, this provision will remain in the US bailout on the floor tomorrow,” Pelosi said. The federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 has not been increased since 2009.
However, it is not clear that the provision increasing the minimum wage would have been included in the final bill even if MacDonough had ruled that it was possible to include a wage increase in the bill. At least two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, had expressed concerns about the increase in the minimum wage. Without the support of the 50 Senate Democrats, the bill’s prospects would be doomed.
Once the Senate considers its version of the bill, progressives in the House could threaten to decline support for the final package unless some sort of minimum wage hike is included. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested on Thursday that progressive members of the House should pressure their own party in the same way as conservative Democrats in the Senate.
“There are progressive Democrats who have this muscle in the House,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “If we, as a party, decide to forgo our promise to raise the minimum wage, I think that’s extraordinarily wrong and that it’s something that as a party might have another conversation about. the way to fight for it. “
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the House Progressive Caucus, told reporters on Friday that the Senate should consider removing legislative obstruction, which would allow any legislation to pass in the Senate by a simple majority. Using budget reconciliation is a workaround that allows lawmakers to pass bills by simple majority without torpedoing filibuster.
“The Senate rules were really put there to preserve the power of the minority,” Jayapal said. “Now we have to show that it is going to make a difference that we are not going to get caught up in the tyranny of the minority that exists in the Senate.”
Jayapal and other progressives pushed Vice President Kamala Harris to overturn the parliamentarian’s decision as President of the Senate.
A senior Democratic aide confirmed to CBS News that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is seeking to add a new provision to penalize large companies that do not pay their workers at least a minimum wage of $ 15, an idea which seems to be gaining ground.
Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a strong supporter of raising the minimum wage, said Thursday he would introduce an amendment to the package to “ remove tax deductions from large profitable companies that do not pay workers at least $ 15 an hour and to provide small businesses with the incentives they need to raise wages. “
“This amendment needs to be included in this reconciliation bill,” Sanders said.
Other senators seem willing to punish companies for not paying their workers enough wages. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden suggested a “Plan B” approach to minimum wage in a Friday statement, which “would impose a 5 percent penalty on a large company’s total payroll if workers earn less than a certain amount ”.
“At the same time, I want to encourage smaller companies – those with middle-class owners – to raise the wages of their workers. My plan would offer an income tax credit equal to 25 percent of salary, up to $ 10,000 per year per employer, to small businesses that pay their workers higher wages, ”Wyden said.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who joined Sanders in demanding direct checks of $ 2,000 late last year, also introduced a bill that would require companies with revenues of $ 1 billion or more to pay their employees 15 dollars an hour.
The amendments only require a simple majority to be added to the legislation, so a minimum wage amendment is possible as long as all 50 Democrats approve.
The minimum wage increase is very popular, a 2019 poll by the Pew Research Center showing that 67% of Americans support raising the minimum wage to $ 15. It even enjoys the backing of some Red states, as evidenced by a Florida voting initiative to raise the minimum wage hike to $ 15 by 2026, which was passed with the support of over 60% of voters. in the last election.
Jack Turman contributed to this report
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