The Senate Parliamentarian on Thursday ruled that including $15 minimum wage in Democrats’ COVID package violates Senate budget rules.

Under the decision from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, the provision raising the wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2025 will have to be removed and considered as a standalone bill or as part of other legislation.

“We are deeply disappointed in this decision,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Thursday night. “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 ruling is key because the COVID relief package is being considered under “reconciliation” rules that bypass the filibuster and allow a simple majority to pass the bill.

Radical leftist lawmakers who have been pushing for the $15 wage hike say this was their “best shot” because at least 10 Republicans would be required to overcome a filibuster…well, it just didn’t go their way…AGAIN.

The Huffington Post reported:

Democrats’ push to pass a $15 minimum wage in their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package violates Senate rules, according to the Senate’s parliamentarian, who delivered a likely fatal blow Friday to the effort to give tens of millions of workers a raise.

For weeks, Democrats have been waiting for a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian, who oversees Senate procedure, on whether they can raise the minimum wage through the budget reconciliation process, the legislative maneuver that will allow Democrats to pass legislation with a simple majority.

House Democrats are expected to soon vote on a COVID-19 package that includes raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in stages over the next four years. The provision also eliminates the tipped minimum wage, which currently allows employers to pay workers a lower base wage as long as the workers receive gratuities.

The proposal would give an estimated 27 million workers raises over the next four years. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 and has not been increased in more than a decade.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is leading the charge for a $15 wage, said on Wednesday the proposal wouldn’t stand a chance of passing if it wasn’t attached to the relief package.

“As of now, there’s not one Republican who will support a $15 an hour minimum,” he told MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes” Wednesday night. “The only way that we are going to raise the minimum wage is through reconciliation or ending the filibuster.”

Too bad…so sad, Bernie!

 

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