The Biden administration’s first major bill, the $1.9 trillion Epidemic relief bill, was voted on and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives today, while the Senate is expected to return the relief bill to the House for a separate vote because the minimum hourly wage increase will be excluded from the vote this week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the House will work to raise the minimum hourly wage no matter what.
According to CNN, the House passed the Biden Administration‘s $1.9 trillion bailout by a 219-212 vote this morning, with two Democratic House members and all Republican House members voting against it. The bailout includes a $1,400 bailout for Americans earning less than $75,000 a year, increased child care tax credits, subsidies for small business owners, subsidies for state and local governments, subsidies for schools, increased vaccine rations, and more.
A major point of contention in the bailout is whether the federal government should raise the minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $15. The Democrats used a “budget reconciliation” strategy to pass the bailout as soon as possible, allowing the Democrats to pass the bill with a simple majority in the Senate. However, the Senate on Thursday (25) according to the “budget reconciliation” procedural principles, the minimum hourly wage increase provisions kicked out of the bailout case. In this way, although the House voted to pass the bailout today, it is expected that the Senate will return the case and ask the House to vote separately on the bailout and the minimum hourly wage increase 2 cases.
Senior Democrats told CNN that the Senate’s move would prevent the two parties from fighting a mud fight in Congress over the issue of the minimum hourly wage, slowing down the progress of passing the entire relief package. And House Speaker Pelosi said yesterday (26), “We won’t rest until we pass an increase in the minimum hourly wage to $15.” She also said that no matter what decision the Senate makes, the House will stick to the end.
Recent Comments