- A federal minimum wage increase was knocked out of the stimulus package on Thursday.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders said Democrats would rather propose tax deductions from large businesses that do not pay workers at least $ 15 an hour.
- He also said that they will provide incentives to small businesses so that they can increase wages.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Democrats would try to devise a back door to set a minimum wage of $ 15 after a wage increase was hit Thursday night by the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package – a major setback for progressives.
Senator Elizabeth McDonough has ruled that a minimum wage of $ 15 violates the strict guidelines of the reconciliation process. This is the legislative method the Democrats use to approve the package in a party vote without Republican support.
In a statement, Sanders criticized McDonough’s decision. “It’s hard for me to understand how drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge complies with the Byrd rule, but raising the minimum wage is not,” the Democratic government in Vermont said, citing a section of the 2017 IDP Tax Act that is allowed. by reconciliation.
He then said he would work with other Senate Democrats on an amendment to remove tax deductions from large, profitable businesses that do not pay workers at least $ 15 an hour and to give small businesses the incentives to raise wages. ‘
There were earlier signs of Democratic support for the move Thursday night. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii tweeted ‘COUNT ME IN’ about Sanders’ proposal.
—Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) 26 February 2021
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, chairman of the Tax Writing Senate Finance Committee, also said in a statement: “I am looking at a tax penalty for mega-corporations that refuse to pay a living wage.”
Democrats are in a hurry to approve the emergency spending package before March 14, the deadline when improved unemployment insurance begins to expire. The House plans to vote on the relief package, which includes a gradual increase in wages to $ 15 an hour, including provisions such as stimulus checks, unemployment benefits and vaccine funds.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the salary loss would remain in the legislation.
“House Democrats believe the minimum wage increase is needed,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Therefore, this provision will remain on the floor in the US rescue plan tomorrow.”
Yet the design and support of a new plan to raise wages could complicate the fast timeline the Democrats are pursuing. Some centrist Democrats may be reluctant to raise taxes on businesses during the economic downturn.
It is unclear whether the proposal will be supported by Sen. Joe Manchin, a key Democrat in West Virginia. The Sanders provision must also clear a set of rules passed by the parliamentary administration.
Congress has not raised the minimum wage since 2009, to $ 7.25 an hour. Experts believe hourly workers have borne an excessive burden of the pandemic, and have suffered huge job losses in especially the service and leisure sectors of the economy.
“Coloreds, women, and younger workers are overrepresented in minimum wage jobs,” said Elizabeth Pancotti, policy director of Employ America, in a recent interview. “Politically, we have forgotten about these workers for the past ten years and in the severe crisis. We have not applied risk pay, compulsory paid sick leave or many policies for workers who are still at work.”