Minimum wage increase could work under Biden's stimulus, CBO report suggests
Source: Politico
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ bill to hike the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would increase the deficit by $54 billion over a decade, Congress’s independent budget scorekeeper estimated Monday.
That prediction of a deficit pile-up could work in Sanders’ (I-Vt.) favor as he fights to include the minimum wage increase in the package that Democrats are crafting to enact President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic-relief plan.
Under the fast-tracked budget process that Democrats could use to clear the aid package with just 51 votes in the Senate, the bill must have a direct and substantial impact on federal spending, revenue or the debt.
So the Congressional Budget Office score is a boon for Democrats fighting for the minimum wage hike to be included, even as Biden casts doubt on whether it would pass muster under Senate rules for the so-called reconciliation process.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/08/cbo-minimum-wage-increase-467281
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders makes a point during a recent hearing.
Today's CBO assessment suggests that a proposed federal minimum wake hike could be included in the upcoming Budget Reconciliation Bill under Senate rules.
“What that means is that we can clearly raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour under the rules of reconciliation,” Sanders said in a statement about CBO’s predictions.
