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The House of Representatives passed a $ 1.9 trillion pandemic aid bill on Saturday in a victory for U.S. President Joe Biden, even as top Democrats tried to assure agitated progressives they would revive. his derailed drive to raise the minimum wage.
The new president’s vision of throwing cash at individuals, businesses, states, and cities hit by Covid-19 was approved in a vote close to partisan line 219-212. That sends the massive measure to the Senate, where Democrats appear bent on resurrecting their minimum wage push and fights could break out over state aid and other issues.
Democrats said the still faltering economy and the half million lost American lives demanded swift and decisive action. Republican lawmakers, they said, were out of step with a public that, according to polls, largely views the bill favorably.
Patrick Semansky / AP
US President Joe Biden has achieved his first major legislative victory. Now your Covid relief bill goes to the United States Senate.
“I’m a happy camper tonight,” Rep. Maxine Waters said Friday. “This is what the United States needs. Republicans, they should be a part of this. But if they are not, we will go without you.”
Republicans said the bill was too expensive and said too little education dollars would be spent quickly to reopen schools immediately. They said it was laden with giveaways to Democratic constituencies like unions and funneled money to Democratic-controlled states that suggested they didn’t need it because their budgets had recovered.
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“To my colleagues who say this bill is bold, I say it is inflated,” said House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “To those who say it is urgent, I say it is not focused. To those who say it is popular, I say it is completely partisan.”
Moderate Democrats Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon were the only two lawmakers to cross partisan lines. That sharp partisan divide is turning the fight into a showdown over who voters will reward for racking up more federal spending to fight the coronavirus and jumpstart the economy above the $ 4 trillion approved last year.
The battle is also emerging as an early test of Biden’s ability to hold together the fragile majorities in his party’s Congress: just 10 votes in the House and a 50% -divided Senate.
At the same time, Democrats were trying to figure out how to appease progressives who lost their top priority in a jarring setback in the Senate on Thursday.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to see an increase in the minimum wage in the United States.
That chamber’s nonpartisan MP, Elizabeth MacDonough, said Senate rules require that an increase in the federal minimum wage should be removed from the Covid-19 bill, leaving the proposal on life support. The measure would gradually raise that minimum to US $ 15 per hour by 2025, doubling the current floor of US $ 7.25 in force since 2009.
Hoping to jump start the effort in some way, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is considering adding a provision to the Senate version of the Covid-19 relief bill that would penalize large companies that do not pay. workers at least $ 15 an hour, he said. a senior Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
That was in line with ideas put forward Thursday night by Senators Bernie Sanders, one of the main backers of the $ 15 plan, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden to raise taxes on taxes. companies that do not meet certain minimum wage targets.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also offered encouragement, calling the minimum wage increase “a financial necessity for our families, a great boost to our economy, and a moral imperative for our country.” He said the House would “absolutely” pass a final version of the aid bill because of its broad benefits, even if it didn’t have the prized goal of progressives.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Democratic leaders have successfully guided the Covid relief bill through the House of Representatives.
While Democratic leaders were eager to signal grassroots progressive and liberal voters that they would not back down in the fight for the minimum wage, their path was unclear due to Republican opposition and questions about whether they had enough Democratic support.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal sidestepped a question about taxing companies that don’t raise wages, saying of Senate Democrats: “I hesitate to say anything until they decide. a strategy”.
Progressives demanded that the Senate go ahead anyway with raising the minimum wage, even if it meant changing the rules of that chamber and removing obstructionism, a tactic that requires 60 votes for a bill to advance.
“We will have to reform filibuster because we have to be able to comply,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a progressive leader.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another high-profile progressive, also said Senate rules need to be changed, telling reporters that when Democrats meet with their constituents, “we can’t tell you this was not done because of a non-elected parliamentarian “. “
Traditionalists from both parties, including Biden, who served as a senator for 36 years, have opposed eliminating filibusters because they protect the interests of parties when they are in the Senate minority. Biden said weeks ago that he did not expect the minimum wage increase to survive Senate rules.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth speaks to reporters before the House voted to approve a $ 1.9 trillion pandemic aid package.
Pelosi also appeared to shy away from dismantling Senate procedures, saying, “We will seek a solution consistent with Senate rules, and we will do so soon.”
The House Covid-19 bill includes raising the minimum wage, so the real battle over its fate will occur when the Senate debates its version over the next two weeks.
The general aid bill would provide payments of $ 1,400 to individuals, extend emergency unemployment benefits through August, and increase tax credits for children and federal subsidies for health insurance.
It also provides billions for schools and universities, state and local governments, Covid-19 testing and vaccines, renters, food producers, and struggling industries like airlines, restaurants, bars, and concert venues.
Democrats are pushing the relief measure through Congress under special rules that will allow them to avoid Republican obstructionism in the Senate, meaning that if they are united they will not need a Republican vote.
It also allows the bill to move faster, a top priority for Democrats who want the bill to be on Biden’s desk before the most recent emergency unemployment benefits end on March 14.
But those same Senate rules prohibit provisions with an “incidental” impact on the federal budget because they are primarily driven by other policy purposes. MacDonough decided that the minimum wage provision failed that test.
Republicans oppose the $ 15 minimum wage as an expense that would hurt businesses and cost jobs.
