Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on Senate Democrats to override the chamber’s parliamentarian and pass a federal minimum wage increase.
“It is utterly embarrassing that ‘pay people enough to live’ is a stance that’s even up for debate,” the New York Democrat tweeted Tuesday. “Override the parliamentarian and raise the wage. McD’s workers in Denmark are paid $22/hr + 6 wks paid vacation. $15/hr is a deep compromise – a big one, considering the phase in.”
It is utterly embarrassing that “pay people enough to live” is a stance that’s even up for debate.
Override the parliamentarian and raise the wage. McD’s workers in Denmark are paid $22/hr + 6 wks paid vacation. $15/hr is a deep compromise – a big one, considering the phase in.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 3, 2021
Democrats have been attempting to include a $15 federal minimum wage amendment to the latest round of coronavirus relief but were blocked last week by Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who ruled they could not move the legislation forward via the reconciliation process.
HOUSE PASSES $1.9 TRILLION CORONAVIRUS SPENDING BILL WITH MINIMUM WAGE HIKE
Ocasio-Cortez is one of several prominent Democrats who has called on party leadership to overrule MacDonough and proceed anyway.
“Abolish the filibuster,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the “the Squad” alongside Ocasio-Cortez, recently tweeted. “Replace the parliamentarian. What’s a Democratic majority if we can’t pass our priority bills? This is unacceptable.”
Abolish the filibuster.
Replace the parliamentarian.
What’s a Democratic majority if we can’t pass our priority bills? This is unacceptable.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 26, 2021
Party leadership has appeared less inclined to override the ruling, including Sen. Dick Durbin, the second highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, who said Tuesday that a proposed plan to use Vice President Kamala Harris to override the parliamentarian is ill-advised.
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“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Durbin said. “I hope that we think very seriously about dealing with the minimum wage in a different venue.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also signaled that overriding the parliamentarian isn’t an option that President Biden finds realistic.
“The decision for the vice president to vote to overrule or to take a step to overrule is not a simple decision,” Psaki explained to reporters. “It would also require 50 votes … and the president and the vice president both respect the history of the Senate. They both formerly served in the Senate, and that’s not an action we intend to take.”
Democrats have long pushed for a raise to the federal minimum wage to generate higher wages for workers. Republicans have opposed the push, citing the many studies showing that the increases kill jobs and can also end up hurting impoverished communities that supporters of the increase are trying to assist.
