Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) defended the $ 15 federal minimum wage as “a non-radical idea”, although he faces likely Democratic majority Senate rejection if the chamber eventually votes on the measure.
Many Democrats are pushing to include raising the national minimum wage from $ 7.25 to $ 15 in President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID stimulus package, and the House must include it in legislation that will later send to the Senate.
However, raising the minimum wage to $ 15 is contested by two Democratic senators in particular: Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). Both ruled out voting in favor.
There is a 50-50 split in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris has the deciding vote in the draws, giving Democrats a narrow and fragile majority.
“A $ 15 minimum wage is not a radical idea,” Sanders tweeted on Sunday. “What is radical is the fact that millions of Americans are forced to work for starvation wages, while 650 billionaires were made more than $ 1 trillion richer during a global pandemic. Yes. We need to raise the minimum wage to a minimum wage . “
The tweet follows the comments on Friday, when Sanders expressed confidence to reporters about including the bill in the overall package.
“We are feeling very well. We think we have a good chance,” Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters at the United States Capitol, adding, “We need to raise the minimum wage to live on $ 15 a month salary. time and this is what the American people want and this is what I intend to do. “
“What is important is whether or not it is directly related to COVID’s short-term relief. And if it is not, then I will not support it in this legislation,” Sinema told Politico in an interview published Friday.
“The provision of the minimum wage is not appropriate for the reconciliation process. It is not a budget item. And it should not be there.”
Republican senators are opposed to including the minimum wage, arguing that it would be too expensive for small businesses, many of which have struggled due to the pandemic.
The Congressional Budget Office said last week that 900,000 Americans would lift themselves out of poverty if the minimum wage was raised to $ 15.
However, it also estimated that the increase would lead to the loss of 1.4 million jobs and increase the federal budget deficit by $ 54 billion over the next 10 years.
According to the Democrats’ proposal, the salary increase would be gradual until 2025.
The minimum wage was last increased in 2009, but many states have higher wages. Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Tom Wolf last week proposed raising his state’s minimum wage to $ 15 by 2027.
A $ 15 minimum wage has been the goal of Sanders and many other progressive Democrats for several years and is supported by the “Fight for $ 15” movement.
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) said Wall Street Newspaper he would “almost guarantee” that the $ 15 minimum wage would end up as an independent bill if the Senate removed it from the stimulus package.
Newsweek contacted Sanders and Sinema for comment.
Samuel Corum / Getty