Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican who is currently serving as a U.S. senator, is coming under fire from the left for leading the fight against the minimum wage hike – and when an MSNBC [.]
11 Hours, 50 Minutes: Vote on Bernie Sanders Minimum Wage Amendment Breaks Senate Record
On 3/6/21 at 11:08 AM EST
The procedural vote to include Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders $15-an-hour minimum wage amendment in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill ultimately failed but not before breaking the Senate record for longest ever vote.
The record-breaking Senate vote came as many in the upper chamber were already prepared for a long night, with several offices stocking Red Bull energy drinks and snacks in advance. But debate and procedural stoppages occurred for nearly 12 hours, or 11 hours and 50 minutes, before enough moderate Democrats decided to oppose the minimum wage hike. A call between President Joe Biden and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin was part of the lengthy process, which ended with only 42 senators siding with Sanders. Sanders needed 60 votes to waive the budget rules, which would have allowed him to use reconciliation to push his minimum wage hike through the
(Bloomberg) The Senate parliamentarian approved provisions in Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill aiding multi-employer pensions and providing laid-off workers with health-care premium subsidies.Those rulings come after the parliamentarian said last week that a proposed minimum-wage increase didn’t qualify for inclusion under the fast-track legislative process Democrats are using to proceed without Republican support.Moderate Democratic senators are looking to make the package more targeted to the neediest Americans, as the chamber takes up the bill following last week’s passage in the House.The House passed the aid legislation early Saturday, and Democratic congressional leaders intend to send it to Biden by March 14. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday his chamber would take the bill up after voting to confirm Biden administration officials on Monday and Tuesday. There are “late nights” ahead, he said.Senate Rules-Keeper OK
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known by her initials, AOC, has slammed some Democrats for failing to support the $15 minimum wage hike that the progressive demands. AOC said they live in a dystopian capitalist nightmare, adding that the minimum wage should actually be $24 an hour, Breitbart News reported. Any person who thinks that a $15 minimum wage is the crazy socialist agenda is living in a dystopian capitalist nightmare. And we should not prop that up. We should not continue that, she said in the report.
AOC stressed that there are basic goods that people could not afford to live on a $7.25 an hour, adding that it was deeply, deeply shameful that they are having this talk in the first place.