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House progressives could delay Congress in passing Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion stimulus package – which includes the much-anticipated $ 1,400 relief checks – to keep the minimum wage hike by $ 15 in the sprawling bill.
Progressive lawmakers on Friday warned Democratic leaders that they could suspend their votes for the bill if the Senate suppresses the pay hike. Their opposition could send the package back for renegotiation, further slowing passage of the bill.
“There are progressive Democrats who have this muscle in the House. If we, as a party, decide to forgo our promise to raise the minimum wage, I think that is extraordinarily wrong and that it is something something that we could have another conversation about as a party. how to fight for that, ”said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, after suggesting that progressives should pressure party leaders by withholding their votes in the same way. that moderate Democrats did by opposing the package.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the House of Representatives passed the relief bill largely along party lines in a 219-212 vote. Two Democrats – Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon – broke with the party to oppose legislation that Republicans in the lower house voted unanimously against.
Saul Loeb / Getty
The Aid Bill is now going through the Senate, where the $ 15 minimum wage hike is expected to be changed. It will then be returned to the House for another vote.
The House bill includes increasing the federal minimum wage by 2025, a move strongly opposed by Republicans and some moderate Democrats. However, Senatorial MP Elizabeth MacDonough, a non-partisan interpreter of House rules, recently said she did not meet the demands of reconciliation.
Senate Democrats paved the way for using the budget process to pass the bill by simple majority, with the house evenly divided, with Vice President Kamala Harris having the deciding vote. But with MacDonough’s decision, party members are now spending the weekend exploring other avenues to pass the measure.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal from Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters Democrats could lose support for progressives if they fail to find a way to include the wage hike.
“I don’t think we can go back to the voters and say, ‘Look, I know the Republicans, Democrats, Independents are backing this; we promised it, but because of an unelected parliamentarian who made us a decision, we couldn’t make it., ‘”she said. “There’s a lot of good stuff in the package, but if it’s watered down that’s a whole other problem. So we just have to see what it looks like.”
Ocasio-Cortez also warned on Friday that the Biden administration that the minimum wage debate “sets the stage for how effectively we will be for the remainder of the term.”
Jayapal pushed Harris to cancel MacDonough. Although the Vice-President has the power to overrule the parliamentarian’s decision, she is not expected to do so.
On Thursday, Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he would introduce an amendment that “will remove tax deductions from large profitable businesses that do not pay workers at least $ 15 an hour and provide small businesses the incentives they need to raise wages. “
Newsweek contacted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office for comment.
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