WASHINGTON – Democrats suffer critical defeat in their bid to preserve President Biden’s $ 1.9 billion stimulus package on Thursday after the Senate’s top law enforcer said a plan to raise the federal minimum wage could not be promoted as part of it, and an important piece of his plan, backed by progressive people, was effectively knocked out.
Senator Elizabeth MacDonough told senators and staff that the provision, which would gradually increase wages to $ 15 an hour by 2025, violated strict budgetary rules that could be limited in the package, two assistants said Thursday. . The assistants released the verdict on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on it.
The House is expected to vote on the $ 1.9 billion package as early as Friday, with the wage increase, and it was not clear whether the decision would change their plans. But it gave Republicans grounds to mock the provision when the Senate considered the stimulus measure shortly thereafter under a speedy process known as budget reconciliation, which protected it from a filibuster, making it possible to succeed without Republican support. .
Democrats are working to win the middle of the pandemic aid package before mid-March, when federal unemployment benefits begin to expire. Doing so through reconciliation ensures speed, but it also comes with strict rules aimed at preventing the process from being abused for policy initiatives that have no direct effect on the federal budget.
Republicans argued that the minimum wage increase proposed by Mr. Biden and top Senate Democrats advocated such an abuse, in part because it had a “purely coincidental” effect on the budget. Mrs MacDonough, the arbitrator of the Senate procedure, agreed and ruled that it was in violation of the so-called Byrd rule, named after former Senator Robert Byrd, a Democrat from West Virginia and a master of procedural tactics.
The fate of the provision has long been in the Senate, especially since two moderates, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have publicly stated that they do not support such a large increase in the federal minimum wage.
While the majority typically follows the advice of the parliamentarian, Democrats can also try to dominate her leadership and force a vote and in any case insist on including the wage increase in the legislation. Prior to the decision, top Democrats indicated they would not support such an unusual move, and it was not clear whether they could win a majority for it.