WASHINGTON—The Senate prepared to move ahead this week with Democrats’ sweeping coronavirus relief proposal without an increase in the minimum wage, after a backup plan to raise the wage through tax penalties and incentives fizzled over the weekend.
Senate Democrats had tried late last week to see if they could fashion a way to penalize large companies through the tax code if they didn’t pay workers at least $15 an hour after the Senate parliamentarian said an across-the-board minimum-wage increase didn’t comply with the chamber’s rules. But Democrats decided late Sunday to scrap the tax plan as its complexity and limitations emerged and it became clear that some Senate Democrats were skeptical of it.
The relief package would provide a $1,400 payment to many Americans; extend and enhance federal unemployment assistance; expand a child tax credit, send $350 billion in aid to state and local governments; and pour new funding into vaccine distribution, food stamps and schools.
The decision to move forward without the minimum-wage increase will intensify divisions among Democrats. The House already passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus package early Saturday morning with the minimum-wage increase and progressive Democrats made clear they didn’t want to see the Senate strip it out. Liberal Democrats have been urging Senate leaders to ignore the parliamentarian’s advice and retain the wage boost, a step that the White House and several Senate Democrats have indicated they don’t want to take.
“We can’t let a parliamentarian decision stop a wage increase for Americans,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) said on a call with reporters Monday. “We respectfully are asking that they disregard the parliamentarian, allow this vote.” Mr. Khanna was one of nearly two dozen House Democrats to sign a letter Monday urging Democratic leaders to keep the minimum-wage increase in the bill, despite the parliamentarian’s ruling.
