The House passed President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package early Saturday morning almost entirely along partisan lines. The bill now goes to the Senate, though it included a minimum wage hike that the Senate MP cannot accommodate Thursday if Congress uses the budget reconciliation process.
Two Democrats, Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Jared Golden of Maine, voted with the Republicans in the 219-212 vote. Not a single Republican voted for the bill.
The bill debate lasted almost 1am until Saturday.
The bill, called the American Rescue Plan, includes $ 1,400 in direct checks for Americans earning less than $ 75,000, an additional $ 400 per week unemployment bonus, money for vaccine distribution, and funding for schools and state and local governments.
While previous coronavirus emergency relief bills have passed with bipartisan support, the bill was expected to pass along party lines in the House of Representatives, as Republicans criticized the high price tag and the inclusion of provisions they believe are unrelated to the crisis.
The vote in the House came days after the US hit the stark milestone 500,000 American dead of the coronavirus. Millions have lost their jobs as a result of the economic fallout, and the supplemental unemployment benefits imposed by Congress late last year will expire in mid-March.
The American bailout is generally popular among Americans, and it has received support from Republican voters as well as Democrats and independents. A Morning Consult / Politico poll released Thursday found that 76% of Americans support the package, including 60% of Republicans.
“The need is great. The chance is there,” speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.
The bill also includes a provision that will increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025, although it does Senate MP ruled that the bill could not include an increase in the federal minimum wage if Congress uses the budget reconciliation process.
Congressional Democrats chose to use the procedural maneuver known as budget reconciliation to pass the bill, allowing it to be passed only by a simple majority in the Senate. Most legislation requires 60 votes in the Senate to move forward, so the budget reconciliation process allows Democrats – who hold a majority of 50 seats – to pass the bill without any Republican votes.
There are strict rules for using the budget reconciliation process, such as the “Byrd Rule”, which requires all provisions in the bill to be budget related and not to increase the federal deficit after a budget period of 10 years. Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the minimum wage increase did not match the parameters for budgetary reconciliation.
In a statement on Thursday, Pelosi said MacDonough’s decision was “disappointing.”
“House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary. Therefore, this provision will remain in the US bailout on the Floor tomorrow,” Pelosi said. The federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 has not been raised since 2009.
However, it is unclear whether the provision by which the minimum wage is raised would have been included in the final bill, even if MacDonough had considered it possible to include a pay rise. At least two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, had expressed concerns about raising the minimum wage. Without support from all 50 Democrats in the Senate, the bill’s prospects would be doomed.
Once the Senate considers its version of the bill, progressives in the House could threaten to withhold their support for the final package unless some sort of minimum wage hike is included. Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested on Thursday that progressive members of the House should pressurize their own party in a manner similar to conservative Democrats in the Senate.
“There are progressive Democrats who have that muscle to do,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “If we as a party decide not to keep our promise to raise the minimum wage, I find that extremely unreal and it is something that we as a party can still have a discussion about how to fight for it.”
Congressman Pramila Jayapal, the chairman of the House Progressive Caucus, told reporters on Friday that the senate should consider dropping the legislative filibuster, which would allow any legislation in the senate to be passed by a simple majority. Using budget reconciliation is a workaround that allows lawmakers to approve bills by a simple majority without torpedoing the filibuster.
“The rules in the Senate are really there to preserve the power of the minority,” said Jayapal. “Now we have to show that it is going to make a difference that we don’t get caught up in the tyranny of the minority that exists in the Senate.”
Jayapal and other progressives have urged Vice President Kamala Harris to override the MP’s decision in her capacity as Senate President.
A senior Democratic assistant confirmed to CBS News that Senate leader Chuck Schumer wants to add a new provision to punish large corporations that fail to pay their employees at least a $ 15 minimum wage, an idea that appears to be gaining traction.
Senator Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee and an outspoken advocate for raising the minimum wage, said on Thursday that he would introduce an amendment to the package to “ take tax deductions away from large, profitable companies that don’t pay employees at least $ 15. per hour and to give small businesses the incentives they need to increase wages. “
“That amendment should be included in this alignment proposal,” said Sanders.
Other senators seem to be open to punishing companies for not paying their workers adequate wages. Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden, in a statement on Friday, proposed a “plan B” approach to the minimum wage, which would “impose a 5 percent fine on a large corporation’s total payroll if employees are less than earn a certain amount “.
At the same time, I want to encourage the smallest small businesses – those with middle-class owners – to increase the wages of their employees. My plan would provide an income tax credit equal to 25 percent of wages, up to $ 10,000 per year. per employer, to small businesses paying their employees higher wages, “Wyden said.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who at the end of last year advocated with Sanders for $ 2,000 direct checks, also introduced a bill requiring companies with revenues of $ 1 billion or more to pay their employees $ 15 an hour.
Changes only require a simple majority to be added to the legislation, so a change to the minimum wage is possible as long as all 50 Democrats approve it.
Raising the minimum wage is very popular, with a 2019 survey from the Pew Research Center showing that 67% of Americans are in favor of raising the minimum wage to $ 15. It even has support in some red states, as shown. from a Florida voting initiative to raise the minimum wage increase to $ 15 by 2026, which was passed with the support of more than 60% of voters in the last election.
Jack Turman contributed to this report