By verbal vote, the senators supported an amendment by Senator JOni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, to “prohibit raising the federal minimum wage during a global pandemic”. It was a sign that it would be difficult to approve the salary increase in an equally divided Senate, where at least one Democratic senator Joe Manchin III from West Virginia, was officially opposing it.
“A federal minimum wage of $ 15 would be devastating for our small businesses hardest hit at a time they can least afford to pay,” said Ernst in the Senate floor. “We shouldn’t have a one-size-fits-all policy set by Washington politicians.”
The Senate’s main proponent for the $ 15 minimum wage, Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, seemed unfazed. He said his plan was to carry out the salary increase in five years and that he never wanted to increase it during the pandemic.
“We need to end the hunger wage crisis in Iowa and around the United States,” said Sanders, attacking Ernst’s home state. He added that he planned to try to have the gradual increase in wages included in a budgetary reconciliation project that would allow Biden’s stimulus plan to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote blocking rule.