WASHINGTON — A ruling in the Senate on Thursday dealt a severe blow to Democrats’ hopes of raising the minimum wage in the Covid-19 relief package, likely dooming the proposal in the legislation that is headed for a vote in Congress.
The parliamentarian, the in-house referee, ruled that the provision was not compliant with rules governing the budget process that Congress is using to pass the bill with simple majorities.
“We are deeply disappointed in this decision,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “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. The American people deserve it, and we are committed to making it a reality.”
The so-called “Byrd rule” limits acceptable provisions in the reconciliation process to taxing and spending. Democrats can still try to pass a wage hike through regular order, but that would require 60 Senate votes, which all but assures failure due to a lack of Republican support.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, praised the referee’s ruling.
“Very pleased the Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that a minimum wage increase is an inappropriate policy change in reconciliation,” Graham said in a statement. “This decision reinforces reconciliation cannot be used as a vehicle to pass major legislative change — by either party — on a simple majority vote. This decision will, over time, reinforce the traditions of the Senate.”
Democrats, led by Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had made a case for including the provision in the package.
Sanders said he strongly disagreed with the ruling and suggested another way to incentivize a wage hike through the budget process.
“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,” he said in a statement. “That amendment must be included in this reconciliation bill.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a leading proponent of the $15 wage, said earlier that it would be unacceptable for Democrats to willingly back off the provision, but she acknowledged that the parliamentarian could rule it non-compliant.
“The parliamentarian essentially a legislative reference,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters earlier Thursday, before the ruling. “If something is out of bounds, it’s out of bounds, as per the rules.”
Senate experts say that Vice President Kamala Harris has the authority to ignore the parliamentarian and rule the wage hike compliant, but the White House isn’t considering that.
“Not sure if it’s ever happened in the past,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain told MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Wednesday. “Certainly, that’s not something we would do. We’re going to honor the rules of the Senate and work within that system to get this bill passed.”
The parliamentarian’s ruling immediately revived calls from some progressive activists for Democrats to abolish the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for passing most legislation, which they can do with a majority vote in the chamber.
Eli Zupnick, a spokesman for the Fix Our Senate coalition, said there is “no reason” for the party not to extend the simple majority process they’re using for Covid relief “to increasing the minimum wage, passing HR1 and the Voting Rights Act, and delivering on the many popular promises they made that Sen. McConnell can currently veto with a filibuster.”
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