WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats hope to include a $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 minimum wage increase in the bill seemed dead Monday as the Senate prepares to debate its own version of the aid package approved by the House.
Four days after the House MP said Senate rules forbade the inclusion of a direct minimum wage increase in the relief measure, Democrats appeared to have exhausted their most realistic options to quickly save the pay rise. In a decision, they abandoned a possible amendment that threatened to raise taxes on large companies that do not increase workers ’pay to certain levels.
“Right now, we may have no way out, but I hope we can find one” to boost the federal wage to $ 15 an hour, said Senate No. 2 Democratic leader Richard Durbin of Illinois.
Senate Democrats hope to unveil their version of the big relief package and begin the debate as early as Wednesday. Congress leaders want to send President Joe Biden legislation against the pandemic and strengthen the economy on March 14, the date on which the emergency unemployment benefits that lawmakers passed in December expire.
The General Assistance Bill is Biden’s top legislative priority. It is posed as an initial test of their ability uniting Democrats in the Senate, where the party has no leftover votes, and runs the risk of causing lasting damage to its influence in the event of failure. Republicans are firmly against the legislation and could oppose it unanimously, as New House lawmakers did when the House passed the bill on Saturday.
The measure would provide $ 1,400 in payments to people over hundreds of billions of dollars for schools and universities, COVID-19 vaccines and testing, mass transportation systems, tenants and small businesses. It also has money for child care, tax credits for families with children, and help for states willing to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income residents.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Said he wanted Democrats to ignore the parliamentarian’s ruling blocking the minimum wage increase. He also wants them to vote to eliminate filibusters, procedural delays that would take 60 votes for Democrats.
No idea seemed to have the support needed among Democrats or the White House to succeed. But Sanders, the Senate’s main sponsor of the $ 15 hike, said he would force a vote on an amendment that would restore the minimum wage increase anyway.
“This is the soul of the Democratic party,” he said of the proposal. In recognition that his effort could fall short, he said, “If we fail in this legislation, I will return” and offer it in the near future.
The Senate is split between 50 and 50 between the parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris, who can only vote a tie. Democrats are using a rarely used procedure for the COVID-19 relief bill that will protect the filibuster measure.
Biden spoke Monday about the bill at a virtual meeting with nine Senate Democrats, including West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, an opponent of the $ 15 hourly target. A White House statement said the group was “attached to the goal of quickly approving a meaningful package that reflects the scope of the challenges facing our country.”
Democrats, who will need unanimity to pass legislation, are pushing for several changes in the House measure.
Manchin told reporters he wants the emergency unemployment benefits of the bill, set at $ 400 a week by the House, to return to the current $ 300 figure enacted in December. Certainly, this will divide and attract strong opposition from progressives.
He and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Also said they want spending to be better “targeted,” which Manchin said meant “helping people who need help the most.” Republicans have said the legislation is too expensive and spends money unnecessarily.
Senator Angus King, I-Maine, said he wants the $ 350 billion bill for state and local governments to specify minimum amounts for city governments and that he might want $ 50 billion to improve bandwidth coverage wide.
The parliamentarian ruled on Monday that some provisions passed by the House, which would provide billions to help some troubled pension plans and to help people who have lost their jobs to pay for health insurance, could remain in place. bill, according to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden-Ore.
The language of the minimum wage approved by the House would gradually increase federal ground to $ 15 per hour by 2025, more than double the $ 7.25 in effect since 2009.
After the MP said this provision should be removed, Sanders and Wyden said they were working on plans to raise taxes on large companies that do not meet certain levels of workers ’pay.
But that plan was withdrawn, Democrats said Monday, and Sanders said the proposal would have been too easy to evade employers. It was always questioned whether the pressure of companies with tax increases would have gained enough Democratic support to survive and the idea would have affected only a fraction of workers who paid the minimum wage.
The minimum wage increase has broad support among Democrats. But while party progressives hail him passionately, at least two Senate moderates – Manchester and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona – have expressed opposition to including him in the broader relief measure, hurting their prospects and fostering tensions within the party.
Now Democrats have to decide “how we do the minimum wage as part of other legislation or on our own,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
While the elimination of filibusters or the overthrow of the parliamentarian has strong support among progressives, ideas lack appeal to moderates. They are wary of erasing procedures that the party has used in the past and could re-use to protect its priorities when it is in the minority.
Among those who have long supported the conservation of the filibuster is Biden, who served in the Senate for nearly four decades.
“The president’s view on the filibuster is well known. That view has not changed, “White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.