Published on
Friday, March 05, 2021
byCommon Dreams
Here Are the 8 Democrats Who Just Joined GOP to Vote Down Sanders' $15
Minimum Wage Amendment
"Every single Dem who voted against a $15 minimum wage should be primaried."
byJake Johnson, staff writer
Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas and chairman of the Senate Veterans'
Affairs Committee, from right, Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West
Virginia, and ranking member Senator Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana,
talk before a confirmation hearing on January 27, 2021.
Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas and chairman of the Senate Veterans'
Affairs Committee, from right, Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West
Virginia, and ranking member Senator Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana,
talk before a confirmation hearing on January 27, 2021. (Photo: Sarah
Silbiger/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Sen. Bernie Sanders' last-ditch effort to reattach a $15 minimum wage
provision to the Senate coronavirus relief package failed Friday morning
after 8 members of the Democratic caucus joined all 50 Republicans in voting
down the Vermont senator's amendment.
"If any Senator believes this is the last time they will cast a vote on
whether or not to give a raise to 32 million Americans, they are sorely
mistaken."
-Sen. Bernie Sanders
Those who voted against advancing Sanders' amendment were Sens. Joe Manchin
(D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Angus King (I-Maine.), Tom Carper
(D-Del.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jeanne Shaheen
(D-N.H.), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.).
"Every single Dem who voted against a $15 minimum wage should be primaried,"
declared Krystal Ball, host of HillTV's "Rising."
In a statement following Friday's vote, Sanders said that "at a time when
millions of people are working for starvation wages, when the minimum wage
of $7.25 an hour has not been raised by Congress since 2007, when the
president of the United States and the House of Representatives support it,
it is absolutely imperative that the Senate approve an increase in the
minimum wage to $15 an hour."
"If any senator believes this is the last time they will cast a vote on
whether or not to give a raise to 32 million Americans, they are sorely
mistaken," Sanders continued. "We're going to keep bringing it up, and we're
going to get it done because it is what the American people demand and
need."
Sanders' attempt to add an overwhelmingly popular federal minimum wage
increase to the coronavirus relief package via the amendment process came
after the Senate parliamentarian-an unelected official with zero
constitutional authority-issued an advisory opinion that deemed the proposed
pay hike a violation of budget reconciliation rules.
After the White House made clear that Vice President Kamala Harris would not
be willing to exercise her authority to override the parliamentarian's
advice, Senate Democrats removed the $15 minimum wage provision from their
version of the coronavirus relief bill.
"Because of an unfortunate and misguided decision by the parliamentarian,
this reconciliation bill does not include an increase in the minimum wage to
$15 an hour," Sanders said on the Senate floor Friday. "In my view, an
unelected staffer in the Senate should not be in charge of determining
whether 32 million workers in America receive a raise."
Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, a Democratic U.S. Senate
candidate, said in a statement Friday that "every single senator who voted
against a $15 minimum wage today should be forced to live on $7.25 an hour
so that they can demonstrate to all of us how it's possible."
"While these senators sit comfortably in Washington making $174,000 a year,
millions of Americans are struggling every day to get by, and they cannot
wait any longer," Fetterman added. "They need a living wage now. All work
has dignity, and all paychecks must too. If the Senate were to pass a $15
minimum wage, 24 million people would see their wages rise. Instead, 58
deeply out of touch senators decided to turn their backs on working people."
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