Senate Parliamentarian Rules Minimum-Wage Hike Out of Order for Senate Stimulus

Prospects for using President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-relief bill as a vehicle for raising the U.S. minimum wage to $15 per hour took a possibly fatal blow on Thursday, when a Senate official ruled that Democrats cannot use a fast-track budget procedure to make the change. Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has found that the wage provision does not have a sufficient fiscal impact in relation to its effect on the economy to qualify for budget reconciliation, according to a person familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity. That means Democrats will almost certainly have to remove it from the Covid-19 relief bill. The move set off a firestorm of reactions, with progressives calling on party leaders to set the ruling aside and proceed apace. Moving a standalone wage-hike bill would prove challenging, given broad Republican opposition and the likely need for 10 GOP votes in the Senate. “President Biden is disappointed in this outcome” and respects the decision and the Senate’s process, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. The president will work with lawmakers to “determine the best path forward” and called on Congress to “move quickly” to pass the relief bill, Psaki said. The battle to more than double the current $7.25 minimum wage isn’t over, according to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders. He pledged to seek an amendment to the bill that could make the wage increase a more explicitly fiscal measure inside the reconciliation process and may have the potential to garner enough support. “In the coming days, I will be working with my colleagues in the Senate to move forward with an amendment to take tax deductions away from large, profitable corporations that don’t pay workers at least $15 an hour -- and to provide small businesses with the incentives they need to raise wages,” Sanders said Thursday night. “That amendment must be included in this reconciliation bill.” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon held out a similar proposal, saying in a statement that he’s “looking at a tax penalty for mega-corporations that refuse to pay a living wage.” The parliamentarian’s ruling on the application of the so-called Byrd rule can be overturned with 50 votes, but West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, has already said he would not supply the key vote to do so. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake