Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is vowing to keep the minimum wage hike in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package when the House is expected to take it up on Friday.
Her decision came after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled the wage hike must be dropped from a massive COVID-19 relief bill the Democrats are trying to speed through Congress.
“The ruling from the Senate parliamentarian is disappointing, because raising the minimum wage would give 27 million Americans a well-deserved raise and pull nearly one million Americans out of poverty in the middle of a once-in-a-century devastating pandemic and economic crisis,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary. Therefore, this provision will remain in the American Rescue Plan on the floor.”
Fox News pointed out that Vice President Kamala Harris, as president of the Senate, can override MacDonough’s ruling when the proposed legislation comes before the Senate. However, that is considered unlikely.
The Hill noted the Biden administration has been pushing the stimulus package, which included a provision for increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.
But MacDonough ruled on Thursday that the minimum wage provision did not meet guidelines needed to move forward with the Senate’s reconciliation process, according to The Hill.
And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. tweeted: “Very pleased the Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that a minimum wage increase is an inappropriate policy change in reconciliation.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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