The parliamentarian, the neutral arbiter of the chamber’s rules, issued guidance saying she believed it didn’t meet the guidelines for reconciliation, the process that Democrats are using to pass their relief plan to pass the aid package with a simple majority in the Senate, and would be ruled out of order.
After two tense days of waiting, the ruling from Elizabeth MacDonough, the chief parliamentarian, comes as lawmakers make final changes to the bill so that it falls within the Senate’s rules. The reconciliation process places a number of restrictions on what policy measures can be included in the legislation. It also allows Democrats to pass the legislation without GOP support, provided that they lose no votes among their own ranks.
Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 has been a priority for the party’s progressives, though some moderate Democrats in the Senate had raised concerns about including it in President Biden’s coronavirus relief package.
“We are deeply disappointed in this decision. 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,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Thursday night. “The American people deserve it, and we are committed to making it a reality.”
State minimum wage levels
The sweeping $1.9 trillion aid package would also provide a $1,400 payment to many Americans; extend and enhance federal unemployment assistance; send $350 billion in aid to state and local governments; and pour new funding into vaccine distribution, food stamps and schools.
Republicans applauded the parliamentarian’s decision Thursday night.
“This decision reinforces reconciliation cannot be used as a vehicle to pass major legislative change—by either party—on a simple majority vote,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said. “This decision will, over time, reinforce the traditions of the Senate.”
The parliamentarian’s ruling against the wage increase now puts pressure on Democrats to decide if they will abide by the guidance or seek to overturn it. Some progressive Democrats already have pushed to ignore the parliamentarian’s recommendation and approve the measure, an unusual step that the White House and some Senate Democrats have said they would resist.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has said he would try to amend the wage increase to $11 an hour.
Photo: Sarah Silbiger – Pool Via Cnp/Zuma Press
“I just don’t think we can go back to voters and say ‘Oh I’m sorry we promised this to you, we couldn’t do it because the parliamentarian ruled we couldn’t do it.’ Voters expect us to fight for this and get it done,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said earlier Thursday. “It is possible for the chair to decide to include [it] anyway despite the parliamentarian’s ruling.”
Under the chamber’s rules, the presiding officer of the Senate—in this case Vice President Kamala Harris—can disregard the parliamentarian’s advice. But such a step would likely give both parties more license to ignore the parliamentarian in future fights. Several Democratic senators have said they would be uncomfortable with rejecting the parliamentarian’s advice in order to raise the minimum wage, as did White House chief of staff Ron Klain on Wednesday night.
Ignoring the parliamentarian is “not something we’ll do,” Mr. Klain said on MSNBC. “We will work within the rules of the Senate and get the bill passed.”
The parliamentarian’s guidance could help Democrats sidestep a different fight over the minimum wage, since at least two centrist Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, opposed including an increase to $15 an hour as part of the reconciliation package.
In the 50-50 Senate, Democrats can’t afford to lose a single vote among their own ranks, with Ms. Harris casting a tie-breaking vote.
The Biden Stimulus Plan
Both Mr. Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) have indicated that they would try to pass stand-alone legislation increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour if it couldn’t be included in the package that moves through the Senate.
“We will pass a minimum wage bill,” Mrs. Pelosi said Thursday. However, legislation outside of the reconciliation process would need 60 votes in the Senate, where Republicans have criticized the $15 proposal as harmful to businesses.
The House is expected to narrowly pass the aid bill Friday, before sending it over to the Senate, where it will be changed to comply with the chamber’s rules. The House will then have to approve it again before sending it to the White House.
Republicans have said they support raising the minimum wage but have their own differences about how to do so.
On Thursday, GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rob Portman of Ohio joined legislation from GOP Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Tom Cotton of Arkansas that would raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour over four years, beginning once the pandemic has ended, and require all employers to use E-Verify, which allows them to check prospective workers’ immigration status.
Earlier this week, Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) said he planned to introduce legislation that would award a quarterly tax credit to workers who earn below the median wage of $16.50 an hour, which would be indexed to inflation. The credit would be worth 50% of the difference between the worker’s hourly rate and the median wage for up to 40 hours of work a week.
—Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.
Write to Kristina Peterson at [email protected] and Andrew Duehren at [email protected]
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