Kamala Harris, a long-time fake progressive, is standing-- because of the Senate parliamentarian's opinion/advice-- on the banks of her very own Rubicon. The parliamentarian's recommendation is just that, a recommendation. The decision has to be made by Kamala Harris. I'm betting that Biden had already instructed her to follow the parliamentarian's advice, because Biden doesn't give two shits about raising the minimum wage and just sees it as a difficult hurdle he doesn't want to fight for. But, if Harris decides to overrule the parliamentarian, to would take 60 votes to overrule her. Are there 10 Democrats (or 7 Democrats + Manchin, Sinema and Angus King) to vote against working families and organized labor? Well, I'd guess there are 5-- the two corporate whores from Delaware (Carper and Coons), the two corporate whores from Virginia (Warner and Kaine) and John Tester (MT). That makes 8, not enough to overrule the vice president.
In 2001, when the GOP was in the same predicament-- a 50/50 Senate with Cheney as the decider, Cheney and racist goon/majority leader Trent Lott decided to fire the parliamentarian, a Republican, they disagreed with on... reconciliation.
The corporate media is treating the minimum wage hike exactly how the White House has asked them to-- as a pesky impediment to passing Biden's COVID-rescue package. This morning, NBC News put it like this: With Minimum Wage Hike Out, COVID Relief Package Has Become Easier To Pass. That's called propaganda, in this case courtesy of Chuck Todd and his team of White House ass-lickers. "At the end of the day, the $15 minimum wage provision was actually an obstacle to the relief bill’s passage. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., were opposed to $15... Democrats didn’t have 50 Senate votes to pass a $15 minimum wage increase, and the entire debate was complicating the rest of the Covid-19 relief package. So if the goal was having the least amount of drama before passing the bill, then the Senate parliamentarian did Biden and the Democrats a big favor (and it’s maybe the reason why Biden had already been signaling that the minimum wage hike wasn’t going to survive). Now, there’s a legitimate debate for Biden and the Democrats on what they do next on the minimum wage. Do they try to pass a standalone hike to $15? Somewhere lower but tied to inflation? Or do they take tax deductions away from corporations that don't pay a $15-per-hour minimum wage, as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called for after the parliamentarian ruling?"
Anyone who talks about a stand-alone minimum wage hike is a deceitful piece of crap-- starting with Biden-- since it would be subject to a Republican filibuster and that would be that. A "good" messaging bill for Democrats with no chance of passing. Biden could hide his ugly corporate-conservatism by pretending to fight for it, knowing full well it would have no chance to pass.
Bernie, Ron Wyden and-- of all people, seditionist Josh Hawley (R-MO)-- have a "plan B," which may be somewhat more palatable for worker-hating conservatives (including Biden, but mostly Manchin, Sinema and Republicans). This solution that would impose a 5% tax penalty on large corporations-- not small businesses-- if their workers earn less than $15/hour. [Opinion: For progressives to agree to that compromise, the $15 should become $20.] The plan would also offer a significant tax credit to small businesses that raise wages for low-wage workers. This would easily fit within the reconciliation "rules" and Schumer has already said he likes the approach.
