Senior Democrats abandon backup plan on $15 per hour minimum wage hike - Washington Post

Senior Democrats are abandoning a backup plan to increase the minimum wage through a corporate tax penalty, after encountering numerous practical and political challenges in drafting their proposal over the weekend, according to two people familiar with the internal deliberations.

On Thursday, the Senate parliamentarian said that the $15-an-hour minimum wage included in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan was inadmissible under the rules Democrats are using to pass the bill through the Senate.

The House on Saturday passed the stimulus bill, including the measure to increase the minimum wage to $15.

Democratic leaders agree they want to have Biden sign the stimulus into law before unemployment benefits expire for millions in mid-March, meaning there is little time for an alternative plan to emerge.

Sanders has said he will seek other measures for approving a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

The latest: House Democrats pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan.