WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans line up against Democrats’ proposed $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 waiver bill even as the White House appeared to rule out a procedural power play in the Senate to protect a provision that most appreciated by progressives: a minimum wage increase.
Despite razor-thin majorities in Congress, Democratic leaders were poised on Friday to push the all-encompassing package through the House. They hoped that where changes seem likely, the Senate would follow suit soon enough to have legislation on President Joe Biden’s desk by mid-March.
At the beginning of Thursday, no Republican in either house had said publicly that he or she would support the legislation. GOP leaders hardened attacks on the package as a job killer who does too little to reopen schools or businesses closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and that was not only wasteful but also unscrupulous.
“I haven’t seen a Republican find anything they agree with,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “I think all Republicans believe in three simple things: they want a law that will get us back to work, back to school and back to health. This bill is too expensive, too corrupt and too liberal. “
The hardening opposition suggested that Biden’s first major legislative initiative could meet with unanimous GOP opposition. That counterbalanced his chorus during his campaign of bringing the country together and a repeat of the Republican wall faced by new President Barack Obama in 2009 and most of his administration.
Democrats showed no signs of restraint against Republican claims that the bill was wasteful, overpriced, and not adequately focused on essential needs, such as reopening schools.
“This kind of reflexive partisan opposition is not going to wash with the American people. It wouldn’t wash at any point, but it especially wouldn’t wash in this time of crisis, ”said Senate leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., Thursday.
By mid-day, the most tension was about an expected opinion from Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate’s impartial MP, who could see Democrats’ hopes of using the package to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025 amplify or possibly crush.
If MacDonough decides that the minimum wage provision must come out of the aid package, it would almost kill it because it doesn’t have enough support on its own to overcome a Republican filibuster. It takes 60 votes to end that tactic, and the Senate is split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris allowed to cast only tiebreaking votes.
Another alternative would be for Democrats to break decades of precedent in the Senate, ignore the MP’s opinion, and keep the wage setting in the bill with their 51 votes.
But it’s unclear whether Democrats could achieve that. Some of their moderates are opposed to the minimum wage increase or want it reversed, and others may be reluctant to defy Senate precedents in this way.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain seemed to rule out that option when asked directly about that scenario.
“Sure, that’s not something we would do,” he told MSNBC presenter Joy Reid Wednesday night. “We’re going to respect Senate rules and work within that system to pass this law.”
Democrats are pushing the $ 1.9 trillion overall measure through Congress under special rules that would allow them to avoid a Senate filibuster by Republicans. But those same rules prohibit facilities with only an “incidental” impact on the federal budget, because they are mainly driven by other policy goals. The MP decides whether facilities pass this test.
If MacDonough decided that the minimum wage provision could remain in the bill, that would be a big boost for his advocates. But there would still be no guarantee that the measure would survive due to opposition from some Democrats, suggesting that grueling final form negotiations lie ahead.
The minimum wage has been at $ 7.25 since 2009. Winning the raise is a top priority for progressives at a time when Democrats control Congress and the White House.
The total bill would bring millions of Americans in direct payments of $ 1,400 to help them weather the pandemic that shut down much of the economy for a year and killed half a million people. It holds billions of dollars for vaccines and COVID-19 testing, schools, state and local governments, and unemployment emergencies, while offering tax cuts or payments for many families with children.
As a sign of tough politics ahead, top Republicans suggested that California and New York transportation spending had been squeezed into the bill in favor of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Who represents San Francisco, and Schumer.
McCarthy said the bill included $ 100 million to expand the BART commuter rail system from San Francisco south to San Jose. That project was previously approved by the Trump administration, a top Democratic assistant said.
McCarthy and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Suggested that Schumer had won money for a bridge connecting New York State to Canada.