The Senate’s chief parliamentarian decided on Thursday that an increase in the federal minimum wage should not be included in the $ 1.9 trillion relief package for COVID-19, but that seemed to do little to stop House Democrats from persecuting the plan – against impossible odds.
In a statement obtained by Fox News, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s decision “disappointing”. Pelosi, like most Democrats, insisted that the wage increase clause be maintained in the bill and said he “would remain in the American Rescue Plan tomorrow”.
Vice President Harris, as president of the Senate, can override the parliamentarian’s decision, but the move is considered unlikely. Ron Klain, President Biden’s chief of staff, said in an interview this week that a Harris rollback “was not something we would do”.
MacDonough’s decision was seen as a devastating blow by the non-partisan referee to the Democratic cause. Senate Democrats wanted to avoid having to deal with Republican obstruction and to employ a process called budgetary reconciliation. According to the process, Democrats could pass the bill in the Senate by a simple majority. But the budget reconciliation comes with additional rules, including which provisions can be added to these accounts.
The Associated Press reported that Democrats have a 10-vote lead in the House and are tied for 50-50 in the Senate. Democrats sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona expressed opposition to the minimum wage increase in the relief bill, and other moderates also expressed concern.
Some provisions that raise eyebrows among conservatives are $ 1,400 stimulus checks that go to mixed-status families with undocumented immigrants; allowing the planned Parenthood to receive funds from the Payment Check Protection Program (PPP) to keep small businesses running; and nearly $ 600 million for additional paid emergency family leave for federal employees and US Postal workers, according to a memo from the Republican Studies Committee.
The main issue MacDonough was considering was Byrd’s rule that requires legislation “to have an effect on the federal budget and not be ‘merely incidental’ to that effect in order to qualify for reconciliation,” said The Hill. .
Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., accessed Twitter to praise MacDonough’s decision and called the Democratic push “an inadequate change in reconciliation policy.” He said the decision “reinforces that reconciliation cannot be used as a vehicle to pass major legislative changes – by either party – by a simple majority of votes”.
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Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the president was “disappointed” by the result, but respected the decision of the parliamentarian.
“He will work with the leaders in Congress to determine the best way forward, because nobody in this country should work full time and live in poverty,” said Psaki.
Fox News’s Marisa Schultz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.