Washington – THE “Plan B“The fact that some Senate Democrats have proposed raising the minimum wage is now out of the question, a Democratic aide told CBS News. The proposal involved a payroll tax penalty for large companies that pay their workers less. than a certain amount.
The aide said that they will seek “all legislative avenues” in the future to get the minimum wage increase approved, and insisted: “We are not going to just throw up our hands and go.”
“I hope you hear a lot more about it this week, but it will definitely be a problem,” said the aide.
The fate of the Democrats’ proposal to raise the $ 15 an hour minimum wage has been in question since the Senate parliamentarian decided last week that it could not be included in the huge $ 1.9 trillion economic aid package if that package was approved by the budgetary reconciliation process. Budget reconciliation allows a bill to pass a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes normally required to pass legislation in the Senate.
President Biden had previously said in a interview with CBS News in early February, that he did not think a minimum wage increase clause would be included in a COVID relief bill “because of US Senate rules.” The House early Saturday passed the relief bill, including raising the minimum wage.
After the Senate congressman’s decision, Democrats immediately switched to a “Plan B” to approve the minimum wage increase through a tax process. That measure, written by advisers to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, would impose a 5% fine on payroll for “very large” companies that do not pay workers a certain amount. That amount is still unclear: Wyden favors $ 15 an hour, but is currently seeking feedback from other Democrats on that number and exactly which companies would face the penalties.
But a Democratic aide said Sunday night that the plan is dead. The extended unemployment insurance is due to expire on March 14, without the new financial aid package. The aide said he realized that “he would have to go back through the parliamentarian”, something that would not be feasible given the “tight deadline”.
“Because although we think Plan B was much more likely to pass the parliamentary assembly than Plan A, you still need to review the parliamentary on Plan B – and between the parliamentary and the finalization of the plan with the political convention, only we thought it would be delaying the passage of time when we would not be able to avoid falling off a cliff of benefits “, said the advisor.
The aide insisted that the clause was not removed due to any opposition within the Democratic caucus of moderates like Joe Manchin of West Virginia or Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
“It was really just working on all the details,” said the aide. “I think, realistically, we would have to have all of this resolved within the next 24 hours.”
But the Biden government’s lukewarm reaction to the proposal may have contributed to the decision to delay it.
“The comments from [economic advisor] Dr. [Jared] Bernstein on Friday was quite indicative of how they felt, “said the advisor.” He just said that, you know, this is complicated and obviously, fulfilling the tax penalty that we were thinking about is certainly more complicated than just a regulation to say you have to pay $ 15 an hour, and that he was concerned about getting do this in the time that we had, which is a very valid concern. “
The aide said that there may be an effort to pass a bill with an increase in the minimum wage with 60 votes. But, the aide said, as Democrats cannot approve raising the minimum wage through a budget reconciliation process, the only other option would be a broader conversation about removing obstruction.
Alan He contributed to this report.