The Senate voted on Friday to reject a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders
Bernie SandersABC Appoints New Deputy Political Director, White House Weekend Correspondent Ron Johnson, Forces Reading 628-Page Senate Bill For Floor Coronavirus Relief GOP Pulls Out To Postpone COVID-19 Package MORE (I-Vt.) To raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15.
Seven Democrats and an independent conferring with Democrats voted against. The vote has yet to be closed, although it seemed as if every senator had cast their vote at 12:15 p.m.
Meaning. Joe Manchin
Joseph (Joe) Manchin Overnight: Capitol Police May Ask National Guard to Stay | Biden’s Pentagon Policy Nominee Faces Criticism | Naval Academy Midshipmen Moved to Hotels Progressives Won’t Oppose Bill On Limits On Incentive Controls Senate Votes To Take Over COVID-19 Relief Bill MORE (DW.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Jon Tester
Jonathan (Jon) TesterMellman: How the Senate Decided to Impeach Senate Democrats Negotiating Changes to Coronavirus Act Senate Considering Changes to 0.9 Trillion Coronavirus Act MORE (D-Mont.), Jeanne Shaheen
Cynthia (Jeanne) Jeanne Shaheen Pro-Choice Caucus Asks Biden To Lift Abortion Fund Restrictions From 2022 Budget Bottom Line Senators Press Treasury To Prioritize Tubman Redesign MORE (DN.H.), Maggie Hassan
Margaret (Maggie) HassanRosen Leads Senate Democrats Efforts to Support Female Candidates Pro-Choice Caucus Asks Biden to Lift Abortion Fund Restrictions from the 2022 Budget Senate Democrats Call on GAO to Bring Down Childcare Entry Barriers for disabled parents and children. (DN.H.), Chris Coons
Chris Andrew Coons Bipartisan Group of Senators Introduce Bill to Curb Biden’s War Force Democrats Worry Senate Becomes Graveyard for Biden Agenda Khashoggi Fiance: Failure to punish Saudi Crown Prince would ‘stain our humanity’ MORE (D-Del.) Tom Carper
Thomas (Tom) Richard CarperBiden to meet with bipartisan lawmakers on infrastructure Five takeaways from dramatic security hearing in the Capitol Democrats worry the Senate will be the graveyard for Biden’s agenda MORE (D-Del.) And Angus King
Angus KingProgressives will not oppose bill on limits on stimulation controls. Senate Votes to Pass COVID-19 Bill OVERNIGHT ENERGY: House Democrats Introduce Another Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality by 2050 | Kerry pressures oil companies to tackle climate change | Biden is delaying the transfer of sacred lands for copper mine MORE (I-Maine.) Voted in support of a procedural objection – a point of order on the budget – to the pay rise.
Coons’s voice was especially surprising because he is one of them President Biden
Joe Biden, Trump State Department appointee arrested in connection with Capitol FireEye riot finds evidence Chinese hackers have been exploiting Microsoft email app flaw since January Biden officials to travel to border amid influx of young migrants LAKEIt’s best allies in the Senate, but he and Carper also represent a business-friendly state.
The Senate voted 58 to 42 against an attempt to dispense with a procedural objection to adding the wage provision to the $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill.
The overwhelming vote casts doubt on whether Biden will be able to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 at some point in his first term.
Until Friday’s vote, Manchin, an emerging power broker in the 50-50 Senate, was the only Democrat in the Senate to openly oppose a nationwide wage standard of $ 15. Manchin instead prefers to keep it at $ 15. 11 per hour and index it based on inflation.
With eight members of the Democratic caucus voting against for procedural reasons, it’s hard to see Biden getting his priority anytime soon. Instead, he’ll likely have to compromise to raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn’t been raised since 2009, to less than $ 15.
Biden reiterated his strong support for it at a conference call with Senate Democrats last week, inviting them to continue working on the pay rise.
“The president wants us to make progress on COVID aid now, but he has made it clear that he supports a 100 percent increase in the minimum wage,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth WarrenPhilly City Council Calls on Biden to ‘Cancel All Student Loan Debts’ in First 100 Days Hillicon Valley: High Alert as New QAnon Date Approaches Thursday | Biden signals a new reversal of Trump with guidelines for national security | Parler files new case Senators ask Bezos and Amazon about cameras placed MORE in vans (D-Mass.), An outspoken advocate of a $ 15 minimum wage, told reporters after the phone call.
Friday’s vote on the minimum wage came shortly after news broke that centrist Democrats had forced their leaders to accept a significant cut in weekly unemployment benefits.
Democrats announced Friday morning that they were close to a deal to set weekly unemployment benefits at $ 300 a week instead of the $ 400 a week Biden prefers and included in the emergency relief deal passed by the House.
In a concession to Liberals, the emerging unemployment benefit agreement would receive up to $ 10,200 in benefits in benefits by 2020 exempt from taxes and extend the increase in federal unemployment benefits to Oct. 4 instead of Aug. 29, the end date in effect by the House.
Moderate Sens. Susan Collins
Susan Margaret CollinsMurkowski Votes With Senate Panel To Promote Haaland Nomination OVERNIGHT POWER: Interior Reverses Trump Policy Says Limited Science | Collins supports the nomination for the Home Affairs of Haaland | Republicans Press Biden Environmental Nominee on Obama-Era Policies Republicans, Save Your Party MORE (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Ann Murkowski Hillicon Valley: YouTube to Recover Trump’s Account | House-passed election bill targets foreign interference | Senators Enact Legislation to Establish International Technical Partnerships Senate Votes to Pass COVID-19 Relief Act The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented By ExxonMobil – Increased Security on Capitol Hill Amid QAnon’s March 4 Date MORE (R-Alaska) also voted in favor of the procedural objection to Sanders’ change to the $ 15 per hour minimum wage.
Every other Senate Republican voted the same way.
Some Democrats expressed dissatisfaction with Sanders ‘proposal to increase restaurant workers’ wages at a time when many restaurants are struggling to stay open amid a downturn in the business world caused by the pandemic.
The vote was largely symbolic after the Senate MP last week ruled that a provision that would raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025 was in violation of Byrd’s rule and could not be included in the aid package the Democrats are planning to deliver. to be taken by a simple majority of votes. special budget rules.
Proponents of the $ 15-an-hour wage can take some comfort from the fact that Friday voted to waive an objection to the change rather than an outright upward or downward vote on the amendment itself – leaving the Democrats who voted no, some elbow room to vote yes in the future.
Because the MP ruled that the pay rise was in violation of Byrd’s rule, it would have prevented approval of the entire aid package by simple majority had it been successfully added.
But the procedural objection – which would have taken 60 votes to dispense – could have been supported by only Republican votes in the 50-50 Senate, indicating Democratic centrists are sending a message.
Sanders vowed after the vote to address the issue further.
‘If anyone thinks we are giving up on this issue, they are wrong. If we have to vote on it again and again, we will and we will succeed, ”he said. “The American people understand that we cannot continue to have millions of people working for starvation wages.”
Asked if he was surprised by the number of Democrats who voted against his amendment, Sanders said, “No, we knew exactly what was going on.”
Justice Democrats, a progressive advocacy group, dropped Centrist Democrats on the ballot on Friday.
“It is unscrupulous that Sens. Tester, Manchin, Shaheen, Hassan, King, Sinema, Carper and Coons would tell millions of essential workers on poverty wages that they are ‘heroes’ but that they do not earn a minimum wage of $ 15,” said Waleed Shahid, a spokesperson for the group.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris must now present their plan to deliver on their campaign promise of a $ 15 minimum wage before the midterm election cycle gets underway,” he said.
Updated at 1:31 PM