Senate parliamentarian rejects minimum wage maneuver

Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough dealt a likely fatal blow to Democratic hopes for passing a $15 minimum wage this year. On Thursday, MacDonough ruled Senate Democrats may not use the budget reconciliation process to pass the increase in the minimum wage.

Why is that important? Budget reconciliation allows the Senate to bypass a filibuster, and Democrats are planning to use the process to pass their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. They had hoped to include the minimum wage hike in that bill. With MacDonough’s ruling, Democrats will instead need at least 10 Republican votes in the Senate to pass a $15 minimum wage bill. Republicans oppose the effort, pointing to a report from the Congressional Budget Office that the minimum wage hike would lead to 1.4 million job losses.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report for The Stew about Democratic efforts to pass a minimum wage increase.