Harris and White House refuse to rescue $15 wage from parliamentarian ax, frustrating Left

Left-wing activists are not happy that Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House do not plan to overrule the Senate parliamentarian to keep a $15-per-hour minimum wage hike provision in the coronavirus relief bill.

Democrats, which hold a slim 50-seat-plus-Harris majority in the chamber, are moving to pass their $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill through the budget reconciliation process, which circumvents the chance of a Republican filibuster and the need for a 60-vote supermajority. But the Senate's Byrd rule limits what kind of provisions can be part of a bill moving through budget reconciliation, preventing measures “extraneous” to the budget from consideration.

The Senate parliamentarian on Thursday advised that the $15 minimum page hike in the coronavirus relief bill would violate the Byrd rule, essentially blocking Democrats and the Biden administration from keeping the wage hike as part of the bill.