March 5, 2021 (The Daily {Poster)<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n
This report was written by Andrew Perez, Walker Bragman, Julia Rock, and Joel Warner.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Senate Democrats\u2019 COVID-19 relief legislation will not include a $15 minimum wage, after eight Democrats joined with Republicans on Friday to prevent Sen. Bernie Sanders from moving to add the provision back to the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n President Joe Biden\u2019s \u201cAmerican Rescue Plan,\u201d released<\/a> on the day of his inauguration, called on Congress to raise the wage in the pandemic aid package. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThroughout the pandemic, millions of American workers have put their lives on the line to keep their communities and country functioning, including the 40 percent of frontline workers who are people of color,\u201d Biden\u2019s plan stated. \u201cAs President Biden has said, let\u2019s not just praise them, let\u2019s pay them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, ensuring that frontline workers are paid a living wage hasn\u2019t been so simple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because conservative Democrats have refused to eliminate the filibuster, Republicans can block most legislation unless Democrats can find 60 votes. That\u2019s why Senate Democrats are using the convoluted budget reconciliation process to pass Biden\u2019s signature relief bill by a simple majority vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But that route allows the Senate parliamentarian to advise on whether certain provisions violate the so-called Byrd Rule, which says that only items pertaining to federal spending issues can be added to budget legislation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough advised Democrats that she doesn\u2019t believe the minimum wage hike could be included in the legislation, even though the Congressional Budget Office had concluded<\/a> the provision had budgetary implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advice of the parliamentarian, a nonpartisan advisor who serves at the whim of the party controlling the Senate, is non-binding. House progressives<\/a> and civil rights activists<\/a>, in fact, pushed Vice President Kamala Harris to reject MacDonough\u2019s advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, Senate Democrats removed<\/a> the wage measure from the legislation. On Friday, Sanders tried to add it back with an amendment. The amendment, which needed 60 votes to advance, was never going to move forward, since opposition from all 50 Senate Republicans was all but guaranteed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Sanders still wanted to put Senators on record<\/a> on their position on the $15 minimum wage \u2014 and now we know exactly where all of them stand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is what we\u2019ve learned: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the eight Democratic senators who voted with the Republicans to block Sanders\u2019 attempt to add the minimum wage provision into the COVID-19 relief legislation: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, and Angus King of Maine (an independent who caucuses with Democrats). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Manchin has made clear<\/a> that he doesn\u2019t support a $15 minimum wage, and would prefer to see a lower figure for the wage, such as $11 an hour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other senators have made process arguments against including the wage hike. Tester\u2019s office told constituents<\/a> he didn\u2019t support the idea of overruling the parliamentarian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinema, who has argued<\/a> the \u201cminimum wage provision is not appropriate for the reconciliation process,\u201d looked downright giddy \u2014 in an apparent theatrical nod<\/a> to her predecessor, John McCain \u2014 as she gave a thumbs-down nay vote<\/a> against the minimum wage measure, even though a $15 minimum wage would boost the paychecks of 839,000 workers<\/a> in her state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n RootsAction <\/strong>@Roots_ActionSenator Sinema a little too happy for poverty wages to remain <\/p>\n\n\n\n March 5th 20216,267<\/strong> Retweets28,592<\/strong> Likes<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinema also brought a large chocolate cake<\/a> to the Senate floor, meant for Senate staff who were up late last night as the 628-page bill was read aloud at one Republican\u2019s request. The result was a perfect \u2014 or rather perfectly gross \u2014 let-them-eat-cake moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s important to note that these Democrats weren\u2019t just voting down Sanders\u2019 minimum wage amendment. They voted to help the GOP make sure the Senate was not even allowed to consider<\/a> the amendment. They refused to allow a discussion on a measure that had been framed two months ago as a key element of Biden\u2019s American Rescue Plan, a provision that would improve the pay<\/a> of 32 million U.S. workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They preferred to simply quash the issue outright \u2014 and the Biden administration did nothing at all to stop them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was another way Democrats could have moved forward with the $15 minimum wage in their COVID-19 relief bill: Vice President Harris, as presiding Chair of the Senate, could have ruled against the parliamentarian\u2019s advice and kept the provision in the legislation. While the Senate could vote to overturn the ruling, it would take 60 of the Senate\u2019s 100 members to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A confidential memo obtained by <\/a>The Daily Poste<\/a><\/em>r<\/a> that circulated on Capitol Hill last week detailed exactly how that scenario would play out: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat would probably happen is a senator would appeal the ruling of the chair and then the full Senate would vote on whether to sustain the appeal,\u201d the memo stated. \u201cThe Chair\u2019s ruling would be upheld as long as there are not 60 affirmative votes to sustain the appeal. So, if the majority could hold enough members together (less than 60 affirmative votes to sustain the appeal), the ruling that runs counter to the Parliamentarian\u2019s advice would be upheld.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, if at least 41 Democrats refused to overturn Harris\u2019 ruling, the minimum wage provision would have remained in the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, 42 Democrats voted in support of a $15 minimum wage. That is one more than would have been necessary for the alternative approach to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s fair to wonder whether some of these Democrats would have wimped out in a situation where their votes weren\u2019t simply a symbolic gesture, as they were today. Colorado freshman John Hickenlooper, for example, was a late<\/a>, surprise yes vote on the minimum wage amendment on Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But these 42 Senators voted in favor of considering a $15 minimum wage even after the Biden administration signaled again<\/a> and again<\/a> that passing such legislation was less of a priority than, say, trying to get Neera Tanden, a scandal-plagued<\/a>, union-busting<\/a>, rage-tweeting apparatchik, confirmed as the head of the White House budget office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine if the Biden administration had fought for the $15 minimum wage as hard as it fought for Tanden\u2019s doomed confirmation. Instead, Harris wasn\u2019t even in the Senate chair today during the vote on Sanders\u2019 amendment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on what we saw today, more than enough Democrats very well could have supported her if she had kept the $15 minimum wage in the COVID-19 legislation, and the measure could be on its way to becoming the law of the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overruling the parliamentarian and keeping the measure in Biden\u2019s first COVID relief package \u2014 a truly must-pass bill that likely won\u2019t win support from any Republicans \u2014 was probably the best opportunity Democrats had to secure a $15 minimum wage, unless a handful of progressives in the House now threaten to vote no<\/a> unless Senate Democrats reconsider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Minimum wage legislation could still happen during this Congress. But if so, Democrats will probably negotiate with Republicans and conservative members of their own party to enact a much smaller wage increase<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re already seeing what happens when conservative Democrats like Manchin negotiate with Republicans on hugely important issues like extending federal unemployment aid: Chaos ensues and benefits potentially get stripped to the bone<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if we see any movement on minimum wage in the coming months, expect the legislation to be loaded with toxic measures designed to peel off progressives, since no one will need their votes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The budget reconciliation process is unnecessarily complicated and won\u2019t be a solution for securing many top-priority Democratic agenda items, even those with budgetary implications. And as we\u2019ve now seen, it doesn\u2019t even seem to help Democrats pass popular<\/a> measures like a $15 minimum wage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is only one solution left: Democrats have to eliminate the filibuster. It\u2019s not just about scoring legislative wins that the party will need if they want a hope to preserve their congressional majorities in 2022 and beyond. It\u2019s about doing what is right for millions of struggling Americans, without letting obstructionist Republicans \u2014 and a few faithless Democrats \u2014 stand in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This newsletter relies on readers pitching in to support it. If you like what you just read and want to help expand this kind of journalism, consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking this link<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eight Democrats are now on record opposing a living wage, but enough remained to suggest the wage increase could have survived if Biden wanted to push it through. Andrew Perez,\u00a0Walker Bragman,\u00a0Julia Rock, and\u00a0Joel Warner March 5, 2021 (The Daily {Poster) This report was written by Andrew Perez, Walker Bragman, Julia… Continue reading 1) Eight Democratic senators refused to even consider a $15 minimum wage.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2) Democrats may have had the votes to keep the minimum wage increase in their original COVID bill.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
3) A $15 minimum wage likely won\u2019t happen anytime soon. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
4) Democrats must eliminate the filibuster. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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