Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Monday urged Vice President Kamala Harris to overturn the congressman’s decision that reconciliation cannot be used to raise the $ 15 minimum wage in the stimulus package. $ 1.9 trillion from President Joe Biden.
Sanders, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, refused to give up on approving the $ 15 minimum wage after Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough decided that the measure did not meet the requirements of the budget process called reconciliation.
MacDonough’s decision may be overturned by Harris, but Democratic leaders indicated on Monday that they are likely to reduce the salary increase to quickly pass the broad bill.
“My personal opinion is that the idea of having a Senate official, a senior official, deciding whether 30 million Americans will receive a salary increase or not, is absurd,” Sanders told reporters. “We have to make that decision, not an official who was not elected, so my opinion is that we should ignore the decisions, the parliamentarian’s decision.”
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He added: “Given the enormous crises that this country faces and the desperation of working families, we must end obstruction as soon as possible. We cannot allow a minority of members to define what the American people want.”
The House of Representatives passed the bill largely along the lines of the party in a 219-212 vote on Friday. The aid measure now advances to the Senate, where the $ 15 minimum wage clause must be changed. After the amendments are decided in the upper house, the bill will be sent back to the house for a final vote.
Sanders promised to force a vote in the upper house to determine support for the $ 15 minimum wage later this week. “As far as I know, there will be a vote on the minimum wage and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “I intend to offer the bill that will raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour and we’ll see how the votes go.”
Warren joined Sanders to ask Democrats to ignore the MP’s decision. “I agree,” she said.
Following MacDonough’s decision last week, progressives indicated that Democrats could lose their support if they can’t find a way to include the pay rise. “I don’t think we can go back to the voters and say, ‘Look, I know that Republicans, Democrats and independents support this; we promised that, but because of an unelected MP who gave us a decision, we couldn’t do that,’ “said Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Newsweek contacted Vice President Kamala Harris’ office for further comments.