President-elect Joe Biden announced a $1.9 trillion bailout package Thursday night (Jan. 14) to aid U.S. families, businesses and communities hit economically by the outbreak, but Congress estimates that the case’s $15 minimum wage provision threatens to cost 1.3 million jobs.
In his speech Thursday, Biden laid out the priorities of the bailout, which included urging Congress to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour to address the damage done to the U.S. economy by the Chinese Communist virus (Wuhan pneumonia). People told me it would be hard to pass,” Biden said. But Florida just passed it. There was a split in that state, but they just passed it. The rest of the country is ready to be ready to act.”
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, while raising wages for 17 million workers, would result in the loss of 1.3 million jobs, according to a July 2019 estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a congressman from Florida, seemed less than enthusiastic about Biden’s proposal. In a tweet, he said, “President-elect Biden has served in the Senate for over 35 years. So he knows the plan he outlined tonight can’t be passed ‘fast’ and will delay $2K (checks) for hard-hit Americans. Let’s get the extra money into people’s hands first.”
The current minimum wage in Florida is $8.56 per hour. According to the state’s new rules, the minimum wage should gradually increase to $15 per hour by 2026, for example, starting this September homeowners must raise the hourly rate to $10.
According to Biden, people who work 40 hours a week for less than $15 an hour in the United States are living below the poverty line.
But according to the 2020 Federal Poverty Guidelines, a taxpayer working 40 hours a week in the 48 states and the District of Columbia would have to earn less than $6.14 an hour to live below the poverty line. In two other states, Hawaii and Alaska, a taxpayer working 40 hours per week would have to earn less than $7.06 and $7.67 per hour, respectively, to live below the poverty line.
Mark Lobliner, chief marketing officer of Tiger Fitness, said, “After a year of blockades and restrictions (measures) that have crushed many small businesses, the $15 minimum wage (requirement) will be the nail in the coffin for those that survive The final nail in the coffin of the surviving businesses. For big business, (the rule) will lead to increased automation (machine capacity) and unemployment will rise dramatically with it. That’s not a good thing.”
The Biden transition team did not respond to requests for comment, explaining how raising the minimum wage would help businesses that are already struggling to pay wages.
Payments under the Biden bailout include provisions for 100 million viral vaccines over 100 days, reopening most K-8 public schools, $1,400 in direct payments to individuals, and extending unemployment benefits beyond the end of March.
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