Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats are keeping a minimum wage hike in the latest COVID-19 relief package even though the Senate’s parliamentarian ruled Thursday that the raise should not be included in the bill.
“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 late Thursday.
“House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary. Therefore, this provision will remain in the American Rescue Plan on the Floor tomorrow. Democrats in the House are determined to pursue every possible path in the Fight For 15.”
The House plans on voting for the relief package, which mainly draws from a proposal President Joe Biden released before entering office, on Friday.
Elizabeth MacDonough, the chief Senate parliamentarian, said the minimum wage couldn’t be part of the package because Democrats are using a budget process known as reconciliation to ram through the bill since virtually all Republicans oppose it. The process enables Democrats to pass the package in the Senate with a simple majority, avoiding the typical 60-vote threshold.
Republicans note that Congress has passed five relief packages in the past year on a bipartisan basis and argue the $1.9 trillion package includes a number of...