WASHINGTON – Democrats' hopes of including a minimum wage increase in their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill seemed all but dead as the Senate prepared to debate its own version of the House-passed aid package.
Four days after the chamber’s parliamentarian said Senate rules forbid inclusion of a straight-out minimum wage increase in the relief measure, Democrats on Monday seemed to have exhausted their most realistic options for quickly salvaging the pay hike.
In one decision, they abandoned a potential amendment threatening tax increases on big companies that don't boost workers’ pay to certain levels. “At this moment, we may not have a path but I hope we can find one” for pushing the federal pay floor to $15 an hour, said No.