Senate official rules minimum wage increase can’t remain in bill

7 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2021: The Senate parliamentarian ruled Thursday that the measure in the House stimulus bill that would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour violated the budgetary rules that the COVID-19 relief bill had been crafted under.

The ruling came on the eve of the House vote on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

“President Biden is disappointed in this outcome, as he proposed having the $15 minimum wage as part of the American Rescue Plan,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “He respects the parliamentarian’s decision and the Senate’s process.”

The Senate parliamentarian advises the Senate on the standing rules of the Senate and parliamentary procedure. Elizabeth MacDonough is the current Senate parliamentarian.

What the ruling means is that not only will the pay hike not be in the bill, but there will be another step in the process of passing the novel coronavirus relief measure.

If the bill passes as expected, it will go to the Senate under the body’s reconciliation process.
During that process and under the parliamentarian’s ruling, the Senate will strip from the bill the provision to raise the federal minimum wage gradually over the next five years.

If the bill passes the Senate, it will have to go back to the House without the minimum wage provision to be voted on there once again.

“We are deeply disappointed in this decision,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement following the ruling. “We are not going to give up the fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 to help millions of struggling American workers and their families. The American people deserve it, and we are committed to making it a reality.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, strongly pushed back against the decision, saying the parliamentarian as wrong and the measure did fit the reconciliation guidelines.

“I strongly disagree with tonight’s decision by the Senate Parliamentarian,” Sanders said in a statement Thursday evening. “The (Congressional Budget Office) made it absolutely clear that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour had a substantial budgetary impact and should be allowed under reconciliation.

Vice President Kamala Harris, as president of Senate, could override MacDonough’s judgment on the question of whether the hike is allowed under reconciliation’s strict rules, but the White House said earlier in the week that it would abide by MacDonough’s decision.

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