House Democrats are including a federal minimum wage of $ 15 in their coronavirus aid package, although there are still doubts about whether the increase could survive Senate consideration. The written clause in the Education and Work Committees bill of the House would gradually raise the salary from its current rate of $ 7.25 an hour to $ 15 in 2025.
This came after the Congressional Budget Office released a report the same day that estimates that raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour in five years would lift 900,000 Americans out of poverty. The CBO found that about 17 million people who currently earn below the minimum wage would be directly affected, while another 10 million people whose wages are just above the minimum wage would also be affected.
At the same time, CBO projected that raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour would result in 1.4 million fewer jobs. He also estimated that the wage increase would increase the federal deficit by $ 54 billion in ten years, with higher spending on health programs, unemployment, social security and more, while spending on programs like food assistance would fall because more low-income families fall would no longer need to depend on them.
“The CBO report strengthens the need to gradually raise the minimum wage through the COVID-19 rescue package,” said the chairman of the House’s Education and Work Committee, Bobby Scott, in a statement before it was released in part of your COVID relief bill committee. “This non-partisan report shows that raising the minimum wage will act as a direct and targeted stimulus for struggling workers and their families.”
Meanwhile, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders argued that the only way to pass the $ 15 minimum wage in the Senate would be through budgetary reconciliation, a process that can be used when legislation has a direct impact. in the federal budget. If that were the case, Senate Democrats would need only 51 votes to pass, instead of convincing 10 Republican senators to join them.
“I find it difficult to understand how the CBO concluded that raising the minimum wage would increase the deficit by $ 54 billion,” Sanders said in a statement on Monday. “Two years ago, CBO concluded that a $ 15 minimum wage would increase the deficit by less than $ 1 million in ten years.”
At the same time, however, Sanders said the “good news” was that the CBO report demonstrated that raising the $ 15 minimum wage would impact the budget and therefore could be done through reconciliation.
Amid the debate over whether Democrats can use budgetary reconciliation to raise the minimum wage, it is not clear that Senate Democrats would have the support of the entire caucus. With a 50/50 split in the Senate, Democrats would not lose a single vote and Vice President Kamala Harris would likely need to vote to break the tie. Senator Joe Manchin said on Monday that he supports raising the minimum wage to $ 11 an hour.
“The states that are going to win $ 15, the states that are going to win $ 15, are already doing it. And more states will earn $ 15, but the minimum wage must not be below the poverty guidelines, ”said Manchin.
President Biden, about including the $ 15 minimum wage in the coronavirus aid project, said he “put it in, but I don’t think he will survive”. He told O’Donnell that he would continue to fight for it in an independent bill. Republicans are not in favor of including the $ 15 minimum wage in the COVID-19 relief bill.
On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was referring to the Senate parliamentary process during his interview with CBS News, when he expressed doubts that he would remain in the version of the Senate bill.
“The process is still pending in Congress and the congressman still needs to define what will be in the final package,” said Psaki, emphasizing that the president still believes in raising the minimum wage.
Psaki said they will “wait and see” what the congressman says about approving a $ 15 salary increase through budgetary reconciliation.
As for the CBO report, Republicans took advantage of estimated job losses and rising costs.
“The non-partisan CBO says that the $ 15 minimum wage would cost 1.4 million jobs, much more than it would benefit + increase store / health care costs and increase the deficit by $ 54 billion,” tweeted the Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. “Including this damaging policy in the COVID relief bill would devastate the same business / ppl already hit by the pandemic.”
Alan He contributed reporting.