Democrats will then leave it up to the Senate to remove the provision when it reaches the upper chamber.
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“House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary. Therefore, this provision will remain in the American Rescue Plan on the floor tomorrow, Pelosi said. “Tomorrow, when we pass the American Rescue Plan, the American people will know that Help Is On The Way.”
Pelosi added that House Democrats are determined to pursue every possible path in the Fight For 15 but didn t specify the other options.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled earlier Thursday night that the provision, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025, did not comply with arcane budget rules needed for it to pass under the process known as reconciliation.
The Democrats' push, most prominently by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour hit a significant snag on Thursday. But Costco, the No. 2 U.S. bricks-and-mortar retailer, raised the ante anyway, announcing Thursday — at a Senate hearing chaired by Sanders — that it is raising its own minimum wage to $16 an hour, starting next week. Costco set its lowest hourly wage at $15 in 2019, a year after raising it to $14. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. "I want to note: this isn't altruism," Costco CEO Craig Jelinek said at the Senate Budget Committee hearing. "At Costco, we know that paying employees good wages and providing affordable benefits makes sense for our business and constitutes a significant competitive advantage for us." About 90 percent of Costco's 180,000 U.S. workers are hourly employees, and 20 percent of them earn its minimum wage. The average hourly wage is $24,
Efforts in the US to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour have gained steam now that the Democratic Party controls the White House and Congress. Such a move makes sense both economically and politically.