Senate parliamentarian speaks out against inclusion of minimum wage in Covid relief bill

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While Democrats had been pushing for the increase to be included, its removal could actually make it easier to pass the bill, senior Democratic sources believe, as it will prevent a messy battle over whether to remove it from the bill. bill and whether to compromise.

The increase is still expected to be included in the House bill that the chamber votes on Friday. However, the parliamentarian ruled that the increase to $ 15 an hour did not meet a strict set of guidelines necessary to move forward with the Senate reconciliation process. This means that the House will pass its bill, the Senate will have to remove the minimum wage provision, and then eventually the House will have to pass this bill again at the end of the process.

The move marks the end of a weeks-long effort by Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, to include the provision in the bill.

“We are deeply disappointed with this decision,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement following the decision. “We are not going to give up the fight to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 to help millions of struggling American workers and their families. The American people deserve it and we are determined to make it a reality.”

But the move likely makes it easier for Schumer to put his online members behind the bill, as the minimum wage hike had been a key sticking point for moderates like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

There are no viable options for using Senate procedures to keep wages rising in the bill.

In the House, Progressive Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York told CNN earlier this week that she would still support the Covid relief program if the parliamentarian was the one to remove the minimum wage provision, but not if the politicians had been those. to take it out. For Ocasio-Cortez, members of his own party removing or lowering the minimum wage would have brought down the bill. Representative Ilhan Omar, a progressive Democrat from Minnesota, echoed those sentiments.

Senatorial MP Elizabeth MacDonough, a little-known but powerful Senate official, was put in the spotlight this week, with Democrats keen to see if the minimum wage hike would survive in the President’s bailout plan. MacDonough is the first woman to serve as a Senate parliamentarian – a non-partisan role – since the position was created in the 1930s.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Annie Grayer contributed to this report.

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