Senate rejects Bernie Sanders proposal for $15 minimum wage in coronavirus relief package

[Donkees]

Alex Woodward
New York
4 minutes ago

Excerpt:

A proposal from Bernie Sanders to raise the federal hourly minimum wage to $15 from its current $7.25 failed in the Senate after the senator sought to include the measure in a White House-backed coronavirus relief package.

The House of Representatives included the wage hike in its version of its $1.9 trillion legislation, which includes unemployment relief, support for families with children, and funding for schools and vaccine distribution, among other initiatives critical to Joe Biden’s plan to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout a year after the outbreak.

After the Senate rules-advising parliamentarian shot down the inclusion of a wage increase in the bill, Senator Sanders vowed to introduce an amendment to put it into the legislation. The proposal would gradually raise the minimum wage by $2.25 each year through 2025.

On 5 March, all Senate Republicans, seven Democrats and one Independent senator rejected the amendment for a vote of 42-58 against.

“If any Senator believes this is the last time they will cast a vote on whether or not to give a raise to 32 million Americans, they are sorely mistaken,” he said in a statement. “We’re going to keep bringing it up.”

Democratic senators who opposed the amendment include Joe Machin, Jon Tester, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Kyrsten Sinema, Tom Carper, and Chris Coons, along with Angus King, an independent who caucused with Democrats.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/bernie-sanders-minmum-wage-senate-vote-b1813158.html

[SamsDrink]

1. Those eight need to answer for their no votes

This is utterly ridiculous that individuals making $174,000 a year are denying 32 million Americans the ability to make a decent wage. Disgusting

[Donkees]

2. Bernie Sanders says he wasn't surprised by how many Democrats voted against $15 minimum wage, ...

Bernie Sanders says he wasn't surprised by how many Democrats voted against $15 minimum wage, per Hill pool. "We knew exactly what was happening."

Link to tweet

[JohnSJ]

6. yes, I don't think anyone is surprised by this as Sanders said. It probably should have been

written in a way that the minimum wage was tied to a specific states Cost of living or something like that.

That mean a state like California would get 15 dollar minimum wage, while a state like West Virgina would be less, or something like it

[CentralMass]

3. Well this really sucks. It is a cold hard reality slap.

[Demsrule86]

4. What part of it can't go in a reconciliation bill...is not understood on this site.

The Parliamentarian has rule. I question why Sanders even voted on it...

[comradebillyboy]

5. What's the point of pushing bills he knows will lose?

It's not good politics. It alienates potential allies. It doesn't accomplish anything at all.

[NurseJackie]

7. You are correct. Showboating and political theatrics seldom produces results.

This accomplished absolutely nothing. Everyone knew what the outcome was going to be anyway. It was a complete waste of time.

[Autumn]

8. It might alienate those in the Senate but it won't alienate the voters who should be

considered their real allies.

[comradebillyboy]

9. Bernie would rather tilt at windmills than be

an effective legislator. All of those senators were elected by their constituents and answer to them.

Does he actually have a plan or a strategy that goes beyond empty gestures?

[Autumn]

10. Yes all those Senators were very effective legislators.Making sure people aren't paid a living wage.

[Doremus]

15. Apparently many here need a review of the 2020 Democratic Party Platform

Raising Wages and Promoting Workers’ Rights
Democrats will fight to raise wages for working people and improve job quality and security, including by raising the federal minimum wage so it reaches $15 an hour by 2026.

https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2020-07-31-Democratic-Party-Platform-For-Distribution.pdf

Are you suggesting that we promise $15/hr and renege on it? Do you think we'll gain or lose votes in the midterms when we do it? Since we only have 2 years to accomplish our promises, when should we start trying to advocate for their passage?

[Indykatie]

11. This is Why Ending the Filibuster Won't Be as Great as Some Dems Think

They fail to accept that there still would not be 50 Dem votes in the Senate +VP to pass some legislation. I am surprised to see there were 7 Dem Senators voting against the minimum wage increase. I thought there would only be 3-4 at most.

[Doremus]

16. Lose the filibuster, enact election reforms, clean up corruption, get money out of elections etc

These actions will set us up for a Democratic Congress for years to come. Especially if the (Rs) continue to self destruct.

We can't do any of it with the filibuster.

[George II]

12. They didn't reject the $15 minimum wage proposal, they rejected allowing it to be improperly....

....included in the bill.

The vote wasn't on whether the $15 minimum wage itself, it was on whether the Senate rules on reconciliation should be violated. They rightfully voted for the integrity of the rules.

Introduce a stand alone bill and we'd probably have a different result.

The Senate didn't "....cast a vote on whether or not to give a raise to 32 million Americans....", they voted on the manner in which it was being introduced.

[W_HAMILTON]

13. Which is even more of a reason it should never have been brought up now.

If Sanders hadn't brought it up, I wouldn't be surprised if a Republican did, just to get a certain subset of left-wing voters to turn against Democrats for no good reason.

It wasted time, it did nothing but provide fodder to loudmouth social media types that are always railing against Democrats anyway, and it had no chance of passing; even if it did, the parliamentarian already ruled that it couldn't be included in the bill, which means that passing it as an amendment onto the bill would have jeopardized the entire bill from being legitimately passed into law.

[George II]

14. Those "loud mouth social media types" are already claiming, falsely, that the $15 minimum wage...

...."was voted down"!

That's clearly not true, but the usual suspects on Twitter and Facebook, etc. know that people will believe them anyway.