President Joe Biden talks about a foreign policy speech during a visit to the State Department in Washington on February 4, 2021.
Tom Brenner | Reuters
President Joe Biden said this weekend that a $ 15 federal minimum wage provision is unlikely to reach the Covid-19’s next relief package, pausing in a key campaign promise as Democrats in Congress they move forward to pass $ 1.9 trillion in stimulus without Republican support.
Biden said his administration would push for an independent bill to raise the minimum wage.
“I put it on but I don’t think it survives,” Biden told Norah O’Donnell of CBS in an interview scheduled to air completely on Sunday. “I guess it won’t be there [the stimulus bill]. “
Democrats in Congress have approved approving the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package without Republican support in the Senate through a parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Friday that the lower house intends to approve the tax relief package within two weeks.
The budget resolution instructs committees to draft legislation that reflects Biden’s Covid relief package, while remaining under the $ 1.9 trillion target. Democrats plan to approve provisions such as $ 1,400 direct, a $ 400 weekly unemployment benefit through September, $ 350 billion in state, local and tribal government aid, a $ 20 billion and 50,000-nation Covid vaccination program millions of dollars for virus testing.
The project is likely to include $ 170 billion for K-12 schools and higher education institutions and $ 30 billion for rental grants and utilities.
Republicans are opposed to including a pay rise in the Covid-19 aid package, which warns it could put more pressure on companies already facing the economic downturn of the pandemic. And West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is also opposed to the pay rise, which means Democrats would not have the votes to approve it even with a simple majority under reconciliation.
While Biden said the $ 15 per hour wage provision is unlikely to reach Covid’s relief bill, he promised to prioritize approving the wage increase in separate legislation.
“I am prepared as President of the United States in a separate negotiation on the minimum wage to move forward from what it is now,” Biden said. “No one should work 40 hours a week and live before the poverty wage and earn less than $ 15 an hour, living below the poverty wage.”
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