Time to Make a Deal to Raise the Minimum Wage

Photo from Chief Organizer Blog. 

The Democrats need to make a deal to raise the minimum wage.

Yesterday, (February 28, 2021,) Senate Democrats announced that they would not pursue their "Plan B" of placing tax penalities on billion-dollar corporations to entice corporate leaders to ensure their workers make at least $15.00 an hour. Apparently, tax credits for small businesses that raise their minimum wages have been abandoned as well.

Last week, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that Democrat's Plan A, a straight rise of the minimum wage to $15.00, could not be included in the American Rescue Plan COVID relief measure passed by the House of Representatives because it violated budget reconciliation rules.

With Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin devoted, right now, to not doing away with the filibuster and not overruling the Senate Parliamentarian, the Biden/Harris Administration is inclined to move forward, at least publicly, with the American Rescue Plan without a Minimum Wage Increase.

That would be a mistake.

While there are Republican proposals to raise the minimum wage (at less than $15.00 an hour,) that MAY be the basis for negotiations on a separate bill (history shows that Republican reliability on crossing the finish line in such situations is virtually nonexistent,) Democrats should first leave no stone unturned on getting Senators like Sinema and Manchin into a socially distanced room and try to work out a deal that could still get a minimum wage increase into the American Rescue Plan.

How would this deal work? This may be overly simplistic but perhaps if:

• Manchin wants to raise the minimum wage to $11.00 an hour. Take it and campaign in 2022 about finishing the job by electing more Democrats.
• Sinema wants more targeted state aid allocated toward the restaurant industry. Let her have it in exchange for her support for the minimum wage.
• Aid to state and local governments may need to be organized to more targeted sectors like expanding broadband or where these entities have to demonstrate need and commit, in writing, to what would be done with the funds.
• Cash payments to individuals and families may need to be trimmed so people who do not need the money do not qualify.

If Sinema, Manchin, and other on the fence Senators who caucus with the Democrats agree to a less than $15.00 an hour Minimum Wage, they could then vote to overrule the Senate Parliamentarian and pass the American Rescue Plan with a minimum wage increase.

Otherwise, Democrats will need to find ten Republicans to go along with a separate bill on a minimum wage increase.

Can it be done?

Possibly. The hard part is getting ten Republicans in the Senate to vote for it.

As mentioned earlier, there are Republican proposals from Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton to raise the minimum wage to $10.00 an hour.

Election Denier and Coup Plotter Enabler Josh Hawley has proposed (similar to parts of the Democrats Plan B proposal for the American Rescue Plan) billion-dollar corporations be required to pay their employees at least $15.00 an hour.

On ABC News This Week, former House Representative, White House Chief of Staff, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed similar legislation to what was passed when the Minimum Wage was last increased in 2007: a minimum wage increase coupled with increases in the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits along with business tax cuts.

Unfortunately, the 2021 version of the former Party of Lincoln is not the same as the 2007 one. Again, history has shown that Republicans, during the Obama Presidency, perfected the art of obstruction and hostility to social justice programs that help people (including the many gullible ones that vote for them.)

That said, If Democrats can not find a way to include the minimum wage in the American Rescue Plan, they should process a Minimum Wage Increase proposal at the same time as the Biden/Harris Infrastructure/Build Back American Plan and fight like the world is on fire to pass it.

As mentioned in an earlier article, there are 40 states that have a lower minimum wage than Arizona's which stands at $12.15 an hour.

Twenty of those 40 have their minimum wage tied into the current federal level.

Everyone knows no one can live on $7.25 an hour.

Senate Democrats need to huddle together and find a way to include a minimum wage increase in the American Rescue Plan.

This is the best opportunity to help give the American People who rely on the minimum wage a raise.

A separate bill may arise but evidence shows that Republicans will probably not be there when the roll call is taken.

The time to make a deal to increase the Minimum Wage in the United States Senate is now.