As Congress hurries to negotiate the details of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill before unemployment benefits run out next month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is working to protect a provision that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Sanders, the newly named chair of the Senate Budget Committee, has made clear that increasing wages is a top priority. However, it remains to be seen whether the measure can advance as part of the budget reconciliation process.
Reconciliation allows the Senate to approve legislation with budgetary ramifications by a simple majority vote, rather than the 60-vote margin necessary to overcome a filibuster threat. The House and Senate both initiated the reconciliation process last Friday by passing budget resolutions.
President Joe Biden and the Senate Democratic caucus are pondering whether raising the minimum wage falls under the guidelines laid out under reconciliation. The president, who included the $15-per-hour wage in his proposal, has already said he is unsure whether it can “survive” the process.
Sanders, however, has expressed confidence it can.
“I can tell you, as chairman of the budget committee, we have a room full of lawyers working as hard as we can to make the case to the parliamentarian that, in fact, raising the minimum wage will have significant budget implications and, in fact, should be consistent with reconciliation rules,” Sanders said Sunday on CNN.
The junior senator from Vermont said he is focused on making his case to the Senate parliamentarian, who helps interpret the body’s rules and procedures. Then Sanders will work to garner Senate support.
“I got to get 50 votes in support of raising that minimum wage to $15 an hour,” Sanders said. “I’m working as hard as I can to make that happen.”
Democrats, who control the Senate only with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, approved a budget resolution early last Friday morning after hours of votes on amendments.
During that process, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced an amendment authorizing the Senate Budget Committee chair to remove any $15 minimum wage provision from legislation during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before the amendment went to a roll-call vote, Sanders addressed the Senate, saying he did not oppose the measure and that his proposed minimum wage increase would be phased in over a five-year period. With that, the tweak to the resolution was approved without objection, enabling Sanders to continue pushing for the wage increase.
On Monday, progressive lawmakers in the House secured the inclusion of the $15 minimum wage in its version of the coronavirus relief bill. But in the Senate, the path forward is less clear.
Even if Sanders is able to make the case that a $15 minimum wage meets the requirements for budget reconciliation, he might not have the votes necessary to keep it in the bill.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has said he doesn’t support a $15 minimum wage in the next relief package but hinted that he could get behind an $11 wage.
“These are debates that we’re going to have within the Democratic caucus,” Sanders told CNN. “But I hope and believe that at the end of the day, the members of the Democratic caucus understand that we do need to pass a $15 an hour minimum wage.”
