Raise minimum wage to $15 — or $10 or $11? Congress considers dueling proposals

As Democrats debate including a $15 federal minimum wage hike in President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, senators from both parties are instead proposing more modest increases.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, suggested he would be willing to support an $11 minimum wage in the stimulus deal as a compromise. And Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced a proposal on Tuesday that would raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in over a decade to $10 per hour.

“For millions of Americans, the rising cost of living has made it harder to make ends meet, but the federal minimum wage has not been increased in more than 10 years,” Romney said in a news release.

Romney and Cotton’s proposal would gradually increase the minimum wage to $10 by the year 2025, while Manchin suggested he could support raising the minimum wage to $11 over the next two years.

The GOP plan would also require employers to use an internet “E-verify” system to make sure they don’t hire undocumented workers — and increase penalties on businesses that don’t comply. Although the legislation likely has little chance of advancing in Congress, where Democrats have majorities in the House and Senate, it’s a show of Republican support for raising the minimum wage.

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 has the support of many Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and President Joe Biden, who included the provision as part of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus emergency plan.

Democrats also reintroduced a bill in January that would gradually increase the federal minimum wage — which has been $7.25 an hour since 2009 — to $15 by 2025. Under that plan, the minimum wage would increase from $9.50 in 2021 to $11 in 2022 to $12.50 in 2023 to $14 in 2024 to $15 in 2025.

The minimum wage would then be tied to median wage growth, meaning Congress wouldn’t have to pass legislation for future increases. The legislation would also eliminate provisions allowing employers to pay below the minimum wage for tipped workers, teen workers and people with disabilities.

A version of the bill was passed by the Democratic-controlled House in 2019 — and was blocked from receiving a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.

Eight states and Washington D.C. have adopted $15 state minimum wages.

The $15 minimum wage hike is also included in the House version of Biden’s relief deal. The House Budget Committee passed the legislation on Monday, setting up the bill for a full House vote by the end of this week before it would head to the Senate.

Democrats are hoping to pass a stimulus deal with $1,400 checks for most Americans before March 14, the day that $300 weekly unemployment benefits approved in December’s coronavirus package expire. That timeline has added to lawmakers’ desire to use the reconciliation process, which allows for “expedited consideration” of legislation on spending, taxes and debt.

Reconciliation would also allow Democrats to bypass the 60-vote requirement for advancing the legislation without a filibuster. Instead, under the process, they could pass the deal with a simple majority — paving a path for the bill to become law without needing any Republican votes.

In order for a policy raising the minimum wage to be eligible for the budget reconciliation tool, the Senate parliamentarian — who advises lawmakers on chamber rules — has to rule the proposal would have a direct impact on the federal budget.

“We’re trying to work as well as we can with the parliamentarian to get minimum wage to happen, that’s all I’m going to say,” Schumer said earlier this month.

The minimum wage increase to $15 has seen backlash from Democrats and Republicans alike.

Manchin told The Hill that he doesn’t back a $15 minimum wage and is “supportive of basically having something that’s responsible and reasonable,” which he defined as an $11 minimum wage in his home state.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, said she opposes including the minimum wage hike in the reconciliation process.

“The minimum wage provision is not appropriate for the reconciliation process. It is not a budget item. And it shouldn’t be in there,” Sinema said, according to Politico.

Democrats — who hold a narrow 50-50 majority in the Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tiebreaker — can’t afford to lose the vote of either Manchin or Sinema without needing a Republican vote in their place.

Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican representing South Carolina, said in January that he pledged to “fight to protect businesses from these damaging policies.”

Rep. Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican and the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, tweeted that raising the minimum wage, “HELPS BLUE STATES that can’t compete anymore for growth, jobs.”