By a vote, senators supported an amendment by Senator Joni Ernst, Republican from Iowa, to ‘Ban the increase in the federal minimum wage during a global pandemic’. It was a sign that the pay rise would be difficult to pass in an equally divided senate, where at least one Democrat, senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, was on record against it.
“A federal minimum wage of $ 15 would be devastating for our smallest businesses, which were hit the hardest at a time when they could least afford it,” Ernst said on the Senate floor. “We should not draft a policy of Washington that is instituted by politicians in Washington.”
The Senate’s Leading Proponent of the $ 15 Minimum Wage, Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, appears intact. He said his plan was to carry out the wage increase over five years and that he had never wanted to increase it during the pandemic.
“We must end the famine crisis in Iowa and in the United States,” he said. Sanders said and took him to Mrs. Ernst’s home state brought. He added that he intended to include the phased-in wage increase in a budget reconciliation bill, which would enable Biden’s stimulus plan to circumvent the Senate’s filibuster rule by 60 votes.