- Sanders expressed confidence that the minimum wage increase will remain in the COVID-19 relief package.
- The Senate MP will determine whether the wage increase can be passed through reconciliation.
- Sanders is still being opposed by Democratic Sens Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday expressed confidence that the proposed increase in the minimum wage to $ 15 per hour would remain in the $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 aid package that Congress Democrats aim to pass through the budget reconciliation process.
President Joe Biden supports raising the minimum wage, but doubts it is permissible under conciliation rules. But Sanders, the independent chairman of the Senate Budget Committee that meets with Democrats, thinks the measure with the Senate MP will succeed.
“Raising the minimum wage to $ 15 per hour is not ‘accidental’ for the federal budget and is permissible under the rules of conciliation,” Sanders told CNN in a statement. ‘The CBO [Congressional Budget Office] found that the minimum wage of $ 15 has a much greater impact on the federal budget than opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling and lifting the individual fines – two provisions advised by parliamentarians do not violate the Byrd rule then Republicans the Senate. ‘
He added: “I am confident that the parliamentarian will advise next week that we can increase the minimum wage through the reconciliation process.”
The CBO ruled that the Wage Raising Act of 2021 would have a material impact on the budget, possibly reaching the threshold of the Byrd rule and succeeding through the reconciliation process.
Sanders has insisted that reconciliation – which relies on all 50 democratic senators who support the legislation – is the way to bring about the minimum wage increase.
“It will be reconciled if I have something to say about it – it’s the only way we can succeed,” he told Insider’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig earlier this month.
But even if the lawmaker rules in Sanders’ favor, he will still resist moderate Democrat Sens Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Cinema of Arizona.
Manchin told The Hill earlier this month that he could support raising the minimum wage to $ 11 an hour, which he said was “responsible and reasonable”.
“The minimum wage provision is not suitable for the reconciliation process,” Sinema told Politico last week. “It’s not a budget item. And it should not be in it.”
The federal minimum wage, $ 7.25 per hour, has been unchanged since July 2009.