No, President Joe Biden is Not ‘Dropping’ $15 Minimum Wage From Covid Relief Bill

Tommy ChristopherFeb 6th, 2021, 8:27 am
 

President Joe Biden is not “dropping” or “open to dropping” the minimum wage increase from his Covid relief bill, contrary to headlines and social media posts to that effect.

Several news stories and tweets from journalists have indicated that President Biden is open to “dropping” the $15 minimum wage from his $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” one even suggesting this is an indication of Biden’s fealty to his “Wall Street bosses.”

But what President Biden actually said on the subject — in a preview clip of his Super Bowl interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell — is that the minimum wage provision is likely to be stripped out of the bill by the Senate parliamentarian.

Norah O’Donnell: You also want to raise the minimum wage to $15. Is that something you would be willing to negotiate on in order to get Republican support?

President Biden: Well apparently, that’s not going to occur because of the rules in the United States Senate.

Norah O’Donnell: So you’re saying the minimum wage won’t be…

President Biden: My guess is it will not be in it, but I do think that we should have a minimum wage stand by itself, $15, work your way up to the 15, it doesn’t have to be a boom!

And all the economics show if you do that, the whole economy rises. I’m prepared, as president of the United States, on a separate negotiation on a minimum wage, to work my way up to, from what it is now which is pain, look, no one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage, and if you’re making less than $15 an hour, you’re living below the poverty wage.

Norah O’Donnell: But that may not be in your American Rescue Plan.

President Biden: No, I put it in, but I don’t think it’s going to survive.

The Senate has advanced a budget resolution — aided by Vice President Kamala Harris’ first tie-breaking vote — that will allow the relief bill to pass with a simple majority, rather than a 60-vote super-majority. But in order to do that, the bill must fall within a set of parameters. After decades in the U.S. Senate, Biden has a well of expertise on what is and is not likely to pass muster in a process that is called budget reconciliation, and is governed by something called the “Byrd Rule.”

It’s fair to say that the likely ruling of the Senate parliamentarian not to allow the increase to be passed on reconciliation does make passing the bill a lighter political lift with conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans, but Biden’s public statements are clear: he wants it in there.

Watch the clip above via CBS.

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