Other lawmakers, including some Republicans, argued that the pandemic aid package should be reduced, with items like the minimum wage left for another legislative battle later in the year. Most House Republicans voted against an independent minimum wage bill in 2019, pointing to a report by the Congressional Budget Office that estimated the provision would put about 1.3 million Americans out of work. Senate Republicans, in control of the chamber, did not accept it.
“This is an item on the government’s agenda, so be it,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, told reporters. “Should it be included as part of a Covid aid package? I think it takes the focus off the priority, which is the immediate need today. “
“Hey,” she added, “you get your car keys now. And then we’re going to do some legislation, but you don’t have to think that you need to put everything together in one package. “
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters bluntly in January that “we are not going to pay a $ 15 minimum wage on this” and that it would be better for Biden to come to the Capitol and negotiate a deal.
Sanders and the Democrats argued that, with unemployment benefits set to start expiring in mid-March, there is little time to win over their Republican colleagues, who embarked on similar reconciliation efforts in 2017 to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act. and approve a comprehensive tax review.
But to ensure the first increase in the federal minimum wage since 2009, even under reconciliation, Sanders and the Liberal Democrats can afford to lose little or no support from the rest of the caucus.
Several lawmakers, including Congressman John Yarmuth of Kentucky, chairman of the House Budget Committee, have expressed skepticism that the minimum wage provision can prevail through the rules of the reconciliation process, which imposes strict parameters to prevent the process from being abused . According to the so-called Byrd Rule, Democrats cannot include any measure that affects the Social Security program, increases the deficit after a certain period of time defined in the budget resolution, or does not change income or expenses.