Senate Democrats voted along with GOP lawmakers to defeat an amendment that would have added a $15 minimum wage to a COVID-19 spending package.
Lawmakers defeated the amendment 42-58, and eight Democrats voted against it.
The amendment would have allowed the Senate to bypass a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian that the $15 minimum wage provision ran afoul of special rules that Democrats are employing to pass the COVID-19 spending bill with only 51 votes instead of the usual 60.
The vote to defeat the amendment put on display the divide within the Democratic Party over the minimum wage increase.
While liberal lawmakers say the $15 hourly rate is critical to providing a living wage, centrists, including Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, say the plan to phase in a $15 minimum wage over the next four years would destroy small businesses.
Manchin is seeking a smaller minimum wage increase and has proposed raising the current $7.25 rate to $11 over the next two years.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent and socialist, introduced the $15 minimum wage measure as the Senate took up a string of amendments ahead of a final vote on the spending package.
Among Republicans, there is growing support for a more modest minimum wage increase. Congress last raised the minimum wage in 2007.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said this week raising the minimum wage “is worth discussing.”
A group of Republican senators, including Mitt Romney of Utah and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have introduced a measure to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour.
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Democrats who voted against adding the $15 minimum wage mandate in the COVID-19 spending package included Manchin and Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Chris Coons and Tom Carper, both of Delaware, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both of New Hampshire, Jon Tester of Montana, and Independent Angus King of Maine.
Even with full Democratic support, the amendment would have failed because 60 votes were required to override Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. Democrats control 50 votes, and no Republicans voted for the bill.
