“There are two problems at the moment: one is Byrd Rule problems, the other is whip problems,” said House Budget Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), Referring in the first case to the procedural hurdle that the wage increase could be. cancel. in the Senate. “If Joe Manchin isn’t going to vote for it because of the minimum wage, I assume we have to take it out or compromise in a way he would accept.”
Yarmuth’s commission pushed Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion package forward on Monday and prepped for House Passage on Friday or Saturday. During the hour-long markup, the $ 15 minimum wage became one of the biggest focal points between Republicans and Democrats on the panel.
“Raising the minimum wage, especially in the midst of a pandemic in which so many small businesses are struggling, would do nothing but harm the economic well-being of low-income families,” said freshman Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Who said businesses in his district are concerned about the proposal.
“We know that when government increases the costs of doing business for small businesses, for example through arbitrary increases in the minimum wage, the workers at the bottom actually get fewer hours of work and fewer job opportunities,” Donalds said.
But progressives in the panel stressed that a pay rise is crucial to getting people out of poverty, especially during a health and economic crisis. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Who used to run a small business, said “in many ways it’s like slave labor” to pay workers the current federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 an hour.
“We know that people of color have been paid poverty wages for too long,” said Lee, “deepening the longstanding racist and economic divisions in this country.”
“Paying more than poverty wages is good for the operating result. People on the job shouldn’t have to go to food lines, shouldn’t be applying for SNAP benefits, shouldn’t be applying for Part 8 or other public benefits, “she said.” That’s what happens when you pay $ 7.25. It’s just wrong. “
To ensure that a minimum wage hike survives, Democrats are discussing the option of limiting the increase to less than $ 15 an hour, to possibly $ 11 or $ 12, Yarmuth said. Such a move could meet shoddy Byrd rule restrictions limiting the projected cost of the pandemic relief proposal beyond a ten-year budget, he said.
Fiscal rules that allow the bill to pass the Senate without the threat of a filibuster essentially require all parts of the larger package to have a significant effect on federal spending, revenues and debt within a decade. If the package increases deficits beyond that time frame, approval from the Senate MP could become problematic.
Manchin has previously said that an $ 11 minimum wage increase, adjusted for inflation, would make more sense for his home state of West Virginia. Sinema’s support for a pay rise would likely be more difficult to win, as she told POLITICO earlier this month that the increase is “inappropriate” to complement the Covid-19 support law.
Notably, some Republicans have backed a wage hike, but with extra strings that would divide the Democrats. Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) announced last week that he will introduce a bill to Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) That would raise the minimum wage – although he did not specify a number – “while the corporate world cannot hire illegal immigrants. “
Progressives aren’t ready to slash the $ 15 amount yet. Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) And his staff have repeatedly claimed that the Congressional Budget Office has already provided sufficient evidence to show that the $ 15 increase complies with fiscal rules within the 10-year period. Sanders assistants note that raising wages will have a much greater effect on the budget than Arctic oil drilling and the repeal of Obamacare health insurance penalties – both of which were previously allowed under the secretive rules of the Senate.
But getting the $ 15 pay rise to officially tick all the right boxes, progressives have a different idea. They are pushing the possibility of a small business tax relief plan that could be combined with the minimum wage hike to ease the burdens on businesses needed to increase their wages, a senior Democratic assistant to the Senate said.
Separately, Democrats are exploring other options from the Senate Finance Committee, including closing “some loopholes that benefit the rich or big business,” the Democratic assistant said.
Democrats “could certainly repeal a number of tax provisions,” including one added to last year’s pandemic relief measure, “which benefit wealthy real estate owners,” the assistant added. “There are some other tax provisions that President Biden has backed that would bring in more than enough money to cover both the ten-year period and the extra-year expenses related to the minimum wage.”
Senate Treasury Secretary Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) “Is looking at several options to stay within our allocation and support small businesses,” said his spokesman Ashley Schapitl, noting that he previously said, “he is doing everything he can” to support minimum. pay increase in the broader package.
A House Democratic aide, who described the issue as “a Senate math problem,” said additional revenue could also come from shortening the unemployment benefit expiration date by one month that would extend the House package through August. House Democrats have been cutting back a month from Biden’s original unemployment benefit extension, which he proposed through September, to offset the cost of retirement support they had included in the Covid-19 Support Act.
Schapitl said she had never heard of options related to unemployment insurance and raising the minimum wage, but declined to discuss other details.
Biden has personally informed the governors that the pay rise is unlikely to take place as part of his first Covid-19 support measure. And while Democrats could technically overrule the MP on the matter, that’s unlikely given Biden leans heavily against the idea, POLITICO reported earlier this month
Liberals, however, remain convinced that the minimum wage increase will survive without compromise – and they have confidence in a parliamentary ruling in their favor.
“What Senator Sanders is fighting for is a $ 15 minimum wage,” said the senate’s senior Democratic assistant. “Period. End of discussion.”
Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.