Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Thursday, criticized a ruling from the U.S. Senate’s parliamentarian that Congress’ forthcoming coronavirus relief package cannot, for procedural reasons, include a $15 minimum wage.
The proposed wage hike has been part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus package, which is expected to pass the U.S. House on Friday. But once the bill reaches the Senate, the wage language will have to be removed, Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough announced Thursday.
MacDonough is a graduate of Vermont Law School.
Senate Democrats have opted to employ the budget reconciliation process to pass the stimulus package, allowing them to do so by a simple majority vote, rather than with the 60-vote margin necessary to overcome a filibuster threat. But Senate rules require that only measures with a direct impact on the federal budget can be approved through reconciliation.
MacDonough ruled that the wage increase does not qualify.
In a statement, Sanders, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee and a staunch advocate for a $15 wage, said that he “strongly” disagrees with the parliamentarian’s decision.
“The [Congressional Budget Office] made it absolutely clear that raising the minimum wage to $15 had a substantial budgetary impact and should be allowed under reconciliation,” Sanders wrote.
“I’m confident that we have a majority in the United States Senate including the Vice President that would vote to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Yet because of the archaic and undemocratic rules of the Senate we are unable to move forward to end starvation wages in this country and raise the income of 32 million struggling Americans,” he added. “That fight continues.”
Sanders said that in the coming days he would be proposing an amendment to the relief package that would “take tax deductions away from large, profitable corporations that don’t pay workers at least $15 an hour” and provide small businesses with incentives to raise wages.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, N.Y., said Thursday that Democrats were “deeply disappointed in this decision.”
“We are not going to give up the fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 to help millions of struggling American workers and their families. The American people deserve it, and we are committed to making it a reality,” Schumer said in a statement.
Republicans applauded the ruling.
“This decision reinforces reconciliation cannot be used as a vehicle to pass major legislative change – by either party – on a simple majority vote,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
