Eight Senate Democrats abstained from the majority and voted against the proposal to raise the minimum wage.
A number of dissenters cite the need to protect struggling businesses from rising labor costs.
The hike was completed from the current stimulus package following a ruling by the Senate MP.
Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Eight Senate Democrats abstained from the majority and voted Friday to raise the $ 15 minimum wage proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The vote scrapped Sanders’ pressure to add the provision back to the congressional stimulus package, after Senate Elizabeth MacDonough ruled it needed to be repealed.
MacDonough has ruled that the minimum wage increase violates the ‘Byrd rule’, which prohibits ‘foreign’ policies as part of a conciliation bill or resolution.
“It’s hard for me to understand how drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge complies with the Byrd rule, but it’s not raising the minimum wage,” Sanders said.
President Joe Biden also expressed support for gradually raising the minimum wage to $ 15 per hour.
The bill was dropped in the Senate after eight Democrats voted against the proposal:
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 05: Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks to the press near the Senate subway after a vote in the Senate trial that acquitted President Donald Trump of all charges on February 5, 2020 in Washington , DC. After the House indicted Trump last year, the Senate voted today to acquit the president over two articles of indictment as the trial concluded.
Photo by Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images
Manchin, a moderate Democrat who holds Byrd’s former Senate seat, had earlier expressed his disapproval of raising the minimum wage while he was with Senate MP MacDonough.
“My only vote is to protect the Byrd rule: Hell or high tide,” the senator told CNN in February. “Everyone knows that. I fight to defend the Byrd rule. The president knows that. ‘
Sen Kyrsten Cinema of Arizona
Elected Democratic senators Kyrsten Sinema (L) (D-AZ) and Jacky Rosen (R) (D-NV) walk to the office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for a November 13, 2018 meeting at the US Capitol in Washington , DC.
Win McNamee / Getty Images
Cinema, another key moderate who previously poured cold water on the minimum wage increase, also voted against the proposal on Friday. To represent her ‘no’ vote, the Arizona senator voted dramatically ‘thumbs-down’ to the Senate clerk, causing a backlash from progressive senators.
Despite her ‘thumbs-down’ vote, Sinema said in a statement that it would be open to renegotiating a minimum wage increase ‘separately’ from the aid package.
“Senators in both parties have shown support for raising the federal minimum wage, and the Senate must hold an open debate and amendment process on raising the minimum wage, separate from the COVID-focused reconciliation bill,” Sinema said in a statement. statement said.
Sen. Jon Tester of Montana
Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT, delivers opening speech at a confirmation hearing of Denis McDonough, nominated Secretary of Veterans Affairs of US President Joe Biden, before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in Washington, DC, USA, January 27, 2021.
Leigh Vogel / Pool via REUTERS
Tester voted against the proposal on Friday. Manchin said he and Tester hope spending on the stimulus package as a whole will be better ‘targeted’ and ‘will help the people who need it most’.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire
Current U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., raises her arms after facing a victory at a rally on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, in Manchester, NH Shaheen over Republican businessman Corky Messner . (
AP Photo / Charles Krupa
Shaheen’s office told Boston.com, the Boston Globe newspaper, in a statement that the New Hampshire senator supports the minimum wage increase, but only with “precautions” to protect small businesses and restaurants that bear the economic burden of the coronavirus pandemic to ensure they “do not suffer.”
“I also think we need to work with some of the people who are affected to help figure out how we can get them through an increase in the minimum wage,” Shaheen said. WMUR9. “We have nursing homes in New Hampshire that are having trouble hiring people because of the pay scale.”
Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire
Sen. Maggie Hassan, DN.H., speaks at the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on “Threats to Homeland” on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, September 24, 2020.
Tom Williams / Pool via REUTERS
Another New Hampshire senator, Hassan, rejected raising the minimum wage proposal. Like Shaheen, Hassan said she supports a separate bill to push the increase through Congress rather than increase it with the stimulus package.
“Well, there is not going to be an increase in the minimum wage in this package,” Hassan said in an interview with WMUR9. That said, I think it’s very important that we all realize that people who have to make do 40 hours a week. They should not live at or below the poverty level if they work hard. “
Sen Angus King of Maine
US Senator Angus King (I-ME) is seen in the Senate Reception Room during the fifth day of the indictment of former US President Donald Trump in Washington, USA, February 13, 2021.
Greg Nash / Pool via REUTERS
King, a Maine independent who usually meets with Democrats, also votes against Sanders’ proposal. He told The Wall Street Journal last week that although he was raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, he expressed concern that the increase in labor costs could cause businesses to lay off workers.
During the pandemic, ‘many restaurants are just hanging on,’ he said.
Senator Tom Carper of Delaware
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 17: U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) speaks during a hearing of the Finance Committee that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer testified on June 17, 2020 in Washington, DC. Earlier, Lighthizer told the House Ways and Means Committee that the trade agreement between the United States and China shows no signs of weakening, despite recent conflict, including issues surrounding the pandemic and China’s approach to Hong Kong.
Photo by Anna Moneymaker-Pool / Getty Images
Two senators from Delaware, Sens. Carper and Coons, were surprising about the minimum wage increase, especially from Biden’s homeland where local Democrats threw their support behind such a policy.
Carper poured cold water on the proposal on Friday, citing the need to protect struggling businesses from rising labor costs.
“For years, I have supported a minimum wage of $ 15 at the federal level,” Carper said in a statement to Delaware Online. “At a time when our economy is still slowly recovering, policymakers have a responsibility to pay particular attention to the fragile state of small businesses across this country – many of whom are struggling just to stay open during this unprecedented crisis.”
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 30: Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) Poses a question to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a Senate Foreign Relation on the Trump administration’s FY 2021 budget request to the State Department on July 30, 2020 in Washington DC .
Photo by Greg Nash-Pool / Getty Images
Like the other senators who disagreed, Coons said he was concerned about how the minimum wage increase would affect small businesses.
“Every Democrat and many Republicans agree that the federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 is too low and too long,” Coons said in a statement to Delaware Online. “It needs to be increased. President Biden has asked us to increase it to $ 15 per hour. I will work with my colleagues on legislation to increase the minimum wage and index it annually.”
