Senate Parliamentarian Rules Minimum Wage Provision Currently Written as it is Can Not be Included in the American Rescue Plan

In a not surprising development, the Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the proposed federal minimum wage increase to $15.00 an hour could not be included in the American Rescue Plan-COVID 19 relief bill as written.

Reaction among Democrats has been quick.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement for the Biden/Harris Administration which relayed:

“President Biden is disappointed in this outcome, as he proposed having the $15 minimum wage as part of the American Rescue Plan. He respects the parliamentarian’s decision and the Senate’s process. He will work with leaders in Congress to determine the best path forward because no one in this country should work full time and live in poverty. He urges Congress to move quickly to pass the American Rescue Plan, which includes $1400 rescue checks for most Americans, funding to get this virus under control, aid to get our schools reopened and desperately needed help for the people who have been hardest hit by this crisis.”

According to reporting from the Washington Post, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement which read:

“We are deeply disappointed in this 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 committed to making it a reality.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, after hearing of the Senate Parliamentarian ruling, said that the minimum wage increase would remain in the House version of the bill scheduled for a vote tomorrow (February 26, 2021.)

“House Democrats believe that the minimum-wage hike is necessary. Therefore this provision will remain in the American Rescue Plan on the floor tomorrow. Democrats in the House are determined to pursue every possible path in the Fight for 15.”

Moving Forward

Senate leadership and the Biden/Harris Administration, according to media outlets like the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Politico are reluctant (with opposition from Senators like Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin) right now to overrule the Senate Parliamentarian or, as most Democrats and Progressives favor, get rid of the filibuster.

One option, reported by Politico, that is available to keep a minimum wage increase (probably up to $11 or $12 an hour to get Manchin and Sinema’s support) in the American Rescue Act is to tie in the increase to business tax credits that would satisfy the Parliamentarian criteria.

Another option would be to work with Senate Republicans like Susan Collins and Mitt Romney on a minimum wage increase (they are proposing a raise to $10.00 an hour along with a promise that businesses do not hire illegal aliens) if they are serious about a compromise. If that is a viable and serious option, Democrats should consider it, especially if they could get these Republicans to agree to a higher minimum wage around $11.00 or $12.00 an hour.

The two options going forward are not ideal for the American Worker who deserves $15.00 an hour.

People in this country should not earn a minimum wage that pays poverty wages.

However, moving forward, if there are only one or two realistic options to raise the minimum wage from as low as $10.00 to as high as $12.00 an hour, Democrats should fight for that, get the American worker a much-needed raise, do well in the 2022 midterms, and come back for the other three to five dollars an hour to finish the deal in 2023.

 

 

4 thoughts on “Senate Parliamentarian Rules Minimum Wage Provision Currently Written as it is Can Not be Included in the American Rescue Plan”

  1. The highest the minimum wage has ever been, as far as inflation and buying power, was in 1968, when it was the equivalent of $12.27 in today’s dollars. This should be the opening bid for “bipartisan” negotiations.

  2. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus, issued a statement as well:

    Jayapal on Parliamentarian’s Ruling About $15 Minimum Wage

    “The White House and Senate can and should still include the minimum wage increase in the bill.“

    WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, released the following statement on the Senate Parliamentarian’s ruling on the $15 minimum wage in the budget reconciliation package:

    “I disagree strongly with the Senate Parliamentarian’s advisory ruling on the $15 minimum wage. As the recent CBO report showed, this provision would have a major budgetary impact and should be eligible for the budget reconciliation package. Let’s be clear: raising the minimum wage is COVID-19 relief.

    “After more than 12 years since the last federal minimum wage increase to $7.25 an hour, we cannot allow the advisory opinion of the parliamentarian and Republican obstructionism stand in the way of the promise we made to voters across this country: that we would give 27 million workers a long-overdue pay raise and lift one million people out of poverty during this economic crisis. The current federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It keeps families trapped in poverty, erases the dignity of their work, and allows billionaires and big corporations to exploit workers. Workers need – and deserve – a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour.

    “The White House and Senate leadership can and should still include the minimum wage increase in the bill. We simply cannot go back to the Black, Brown, AAPI, Indigenous, poor and working class voters who delivered us the White House and the Senate majority and tell them that an unelected parliamentarian advised us – based on arcane rules – that we could not raise the minimum wage as we promised.

    “The ruling only makes it more clear than ever that the Senate must reform its archaic rules, including reforming the filibuster to allow populist and necessary policies like the $15 minimum wage to pass with a majority of the Senate.

    “Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 continues to be a top priority for House progressives. We worked hard with Democratic leadership to ensure it stayed in our House relief package and we look forward to voting for a bold relief package in the coming days that raises the wage for 27 million people. We will continue working with our Senate allies and the Biden Administration to pursue every avenue available to us to deliver on our promise and guarantee a minimum wage for all workers of $15 an hour, not a cent less.”

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  3. There is another option: attach the minimum wage bill to the defense appropriations bill, as Congress has successfully done in the past. That makes voting against the minimum wage voting against defense appropriations, a two-fer for Democrats to run against Republicans.

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