3/2/21 Minimum Wage Plans A and B Both Fall Short

The fast-tracked minimum wage increase had a Plan A and a Plan B, and neither is going to work.

Plan A was to tuck a new $15 minimum wage into the COVID19 relief bill. The Senate Parliamentarian ruled that out because it veered outside the bounds of the reconciliation process.

The Biden administration refuses to go to battle against the Parliamentarian. So much for Plan A.

Plan B was a rather complicated tax scheme that Ron Wyden (D-Wa) and Bernie Sanders (D-Vt) liked. Making policy by way of the tax code is fraught, and it wasn't clear that the Senators' plan would do the trick. Wyden was sure that it would slip through the Parliamentarian's restrictions, but the bill never got enough traction from the rest of the Senate to move forward. Sorry folks, that was it for Plan B.

Don't despair, though: The minimum wage hike is dead only as a part of the COVID19 relief package. It's still a priority for Democrats, and, one hopes, for some of the quieter Republicans too.

There'll be a stand-alone bill sooner rather than later!