COVID-19 relief may not include wage hike -Biden
COVID-19 relief may not include wage hike -Biden
[NFA] President Joe Biden admitted in a TV interview to be aired Sunday that his desire to see the minimum wage raised to $15 an hour will most likely be left out of his massive $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan making its way through Congress.
Conway G.
Gittens reports.
COVID-19 relief may not include wage hike -Biden
President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress pushed ahead Friday with his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, in a move that could get assistance to Americans without the help of Republicans.
But in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation to be aired Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl, Biden concedes he's not going to get the $15 minimum wage he wants- this time.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: "I am prepared, as president of the United States on a separate negotiation on minimum wage, to work my way up from what it is now, which is pain-- look, no one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage.
And if you're making less than $15 an hour, you're living below the poverty wage." REPORTER: "But that may not be in your American Rescue Plan?" BIDEN: "No.
I put it in, but I don't think it's gonna survive." The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for more than a decade.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives passed a budget outline on Friday that will allow them to muscle through his massive aid package in the coming weeks following a Senate approved plan in the wee-hours of the morning – neither included Biden’s minimum wage increase.
By using this budget resolution process, Democrats could actually pass Biden's plan by a simple majority vote in the Senate instead of the 60 votes required for most legislation.
The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.
Democrats have a slim majority in the House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hopes to wrap up negotiations and get the relief legislation through Congress before March 15th, that's when a round of special unemployment benefits are due to expire.