If the Senate MP finds a provision that violates the Byrd rule, it would require 60 senators to reverse the decision in order to keep the foreign provision in the underlying bill, an extremely high obstacle to too sure. But an idea now being promoted by progressive activists is that Vice President Kamala Harris – or whoever is chairing the Senate at the time – simply ignores the parliamentarian’s ruling and leaves the disputed provision in the bill, a controversial one. case. a move that, according to Senate experts, has not been employed by then-Vice President Nelson Rockefeller since 1975.
However, if Democrats followed suit and ignored the advice of the parliamentarian, it would probably give them the support of at least Manchin – and possibly others, like sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat in Arizona, food.
“My only voice is to protect the Byrd rule: hell or high tide,” Manchin told CNN. “Everyone knows that. I fight to defend the Byrd rule. The president knows that. ‘
Asked if he had told the president of his position, Manchin said bluntly, “Straight.”
The push to include a federal wage increase to $ 15 per hour has become a delicate situation for Democrats, as they want to push through the first week of March the massive economic rescue package by both houses of Congress. The House Budget Committee is expected to compile individual pieces of the proposal in the coming days before sending the comprehensive bill to the full House, which is expected to approve the plan by the end of next week.
House budget chairman John Yarmuth, a Kentucky Democrat who supports the minimum wage increase, was skeptical Tuesday that the hourly increase could survive the Senate’s strict budget rules, while even Biden himself expressed serious doubts that it would survive in the Senate.
“I think the minimum wage is a stretch to get through the Byrd rule,” Yarmuth told CNN, noting its impact on deficits after the next decade. “I just do not know how they do it.”
Yarmuth said he expects his committee to vote to pass the bill by the end of the week or by Monday as soon as his panel approves its own process of clearing the bill with House MPs to make sure that it does not go wrong. of budget reconciliation rules. Yarmuth added that House panels are already working privately to resolve the differences with Senate committees to expedite the passage in both chambers.
“Our committees work with their committees all the time,” Yarmuth said.
If the massive measure is approved by the House next week, as expected, it will come to the Senate the following week. Because Democrats use fast budget procedures, known as reconciliation, the measure cannot be illustrated, meaning the bill can be approved by a simple majority of 51 senators – rather than the 60 votes usually needed to get any to overcome barriers in the Senate. With a stalemate of 50-50, Harris would bring out the equalizing vote.
Because Democrats are using the budget reconciliation process, they must follow the Byrd rule, named after the late Senator Robert C. Byrd, whose seat Manchin now holds.
Sanders, however, says he has Senate lawyers and experts arranging on his staff who plan to plead against the Senate MP Elizabeth MacDonough for a favorable ruling.
“The only way to raise the minimum wage now to $ 15 an hour is to reconcile it with 51 votes through the budget,” said Sanders, arguing that a recent cost estimate by the Congressional Budget Office strengthened his argument for the provision. in the account.
Sanders told CNN on Monday: “We are going to address our case to the parliamentarian that we absolutely believe that raising the minimum wage to $ 15 per hour is in line with Senate rules and the reconciliation process.”