Supporters of raising the federal minimum wage met with Sen. Joe Manchin
Joseph (Joe) ManchinOn The Money: Biden Faces Leftist Reaction on Student Loans | Situation of the relief measure COVID-19 | Retail sales rebound ENERGY OF THE NIGHT: Five things to know about Texas’s tense power grid | Honeymoon in Biden with green groups faces tests | Electric vehicles are expected to help Biden in the fight against the Hassan climate to chair the Senate’s emerging threats subcommittee. MOST (DW.Va.) on Thursday hoping to convince the moderate Democrat to reconsider his opposition at a rate of $ 15 an hour.
Manchin, who signaled support for a lower minimum wage increase, held a virtual meeting with representatives of groups such as the Poor’s Campaign and the International Union of Service Employees.
Rev. William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-president of the Campaign for the Poor, said a $ 15 minimum wage should not be a partisan debate.
“No politician, no democrat [or] Republicans … can say that it is a question of the left or right, a central issue of the extreme left or extreme right; this is a human issue, ”Barber said in a Zoom conference call after the meeting. “Particularly with the Democrats, however, they competed in that. They put him on his platform. … It would be a definite abandonment and a betrayal to arrive here now and have the power to do so and then retreat. “
The increase in the minimum wage is one of the parts that most divides President biden
Joe BidenFeds investigating how Cuomo is dealing with outbreaks in nursing homes Night defense: a third of the military refuse the coronavirus vaccine Biden will take executive action in response to the Solar Winds hack | US and Japan reach cost-sharing agreement On The Money: Biden faces leftist reaction on student loans | Situation of the relief measure COVID-19 | Retail sales recover MOREthe $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package being approved by Congress. The proposal would raise the federal minimum wage from $ 7.25, where it has been since 2009, to $ 15 by 2025.
Manchin and his moderate Democratic colleague Senator Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) refused to support the wage component of the relief bill, posing a critical challenge for Democrats, given its small advantage in the 50-50 Senate tiebreaker.
“Having grown up in the small coal mining town of Farmington [W.V.], Senator Manchin understands the challenges faced by West Virginia workers and small business owners, ”Manchin spokesman Sam Runyon told The Hill in a statement after Thursday’s meeting. “He appreciated the opportunity to meet with Bishop Barber and members of the Poor’s Campaign to discuss the issues most important to them.”
Barber and others on the call resisted Manchin’s opposition to a $ 15 hourly wage, arguing that the dollar value was already a middle ground, as it still did not meet current living costs across the country.
West Virginia service providers who were on the Manchin call strongly criticized his comments after the meeting.
Pam Garrison, who earns the minimum wage and is part of the state chapter of the Poor People’s Campaign, said Manchin’s responses at the meeting were “police”.
“The minimum wage was never enough to feed my family and survive,” said Garrison. “If you’ve never lived in poverty, you have no mental, physical and emotional idea of what it causes or wears you out.”
Although Census Bureau figures show that 34 million people in the United States lived in poverty by 2019, a formula used by Poor People’s Campaign brings the figure closer to 140 million.
With millions of workers unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of Americans living in poverty in 2020 is expected to increase.
Barber indicated that the Poor People’s Campaign would be on the ground in several states, including Arizona and West Virginia, to maintain pressure on Democrats in Congress to pass the $ 15 minimum wage.
Whether that provision will be included in the final bill is unclear. The Senate congressman will soon need to decide whether he meets the requirements of the budget reconciliation rules that will allow Democrats to pass the broader package without any support from the Republican Party.