Congressional Republicans have overwhelmingly opposed Democrats’ blanket $15 per hour minimum wage proposal. But a number of them have either shown interest in or supported outright an increase in the minimum wage.
That provides the potential for compromise, which Biden has said he wants to achieve. It’s also something that makes the Democratic Left break out in hives, and so the need to give and take with Republicans won’t be the only barrier for Biden in his effort to pass a higher minimum wage.
Politico reported on Wednesday that because the Senate’s parliamentarian ruled against the $15 minimum wage’s inclusion in Democrats’ budget, the White House wants to make a deal.
“There is zero percent chance the White House is going to shove the minimum wage down Republicans’ throats,” a source close to the White House told the publication.
That’s precisely what House Progressive Caucus Democrats and their Senate counterparts would prefer the party to do, having lobbied hard for the parliamentarian’s ruling to be entirely disregarded, along with the sensible reservations among Republicans about how expensive such a steep increase would be for many employers.
The push offers a definitive glimpse into the id of the Democratic Left, which is unconcerned by the notion, for example, that local considerations and needs are not uniform across the states. And incredibly, the Left even views the current $15 proposal as middle-of-the-road.
“Progressives argue that a phased-in $15 floor over five years is already a compromise and would likely oppose any deal that would go significantly lower,” the Politico story notes. So how are they going to stomach the much bigger concessions that will have to be made if Biden wants to negotiate the $10 per hour wage proposed by Republican Sens. Tom Cotton and Mitt Romney?
Rep. Ro Khanna of California and 22 House Democrats are fed up with all of this compromising. “For four years, Progressives have been negotiating in good faith, putting our bold agenda at the center of the American consciousness in the hopes that our country does indeed share our commitment to building a better future,” Khanna wrote in a letter, undersigned by the other 22, urging President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris (who has the authority as president of the Senate) to overrule the parliamentarian. “This ruling is a bridge too far. We’ve been asked, politely but firmly, to compromise on nearly all of our principles and goals. Not this time.”
If Biden really wants a bipartisan deal, he’s going to have to make concessions to Republicans concerned about job losses and other economic consequences associated with a steep increase in the minimum wage. But he is also going to have to manage the left-wing and try, as former President Barack Obama did, to get them to embrace the attitude that says, “Let’s get this done, and then, let’s move on to fight another day.”
Biden may well end up making a deal with Republicans that moves without support from progressives, though that creates its own political difficulties for him. It’s clear that a $15 minimum wage, which is by all accounts the Democratic Left’s final number, can’t pass under the current political circumstances.
It’s also clear that “bipartisanship” and “compromise” are two words that progressive Democrats do not want to hear.
