| US President Joe Biden. © AFP=News1 |
US President Joe Biden expressed disappointment that his proposed minimum wage was excluded from the Corona 19 economic stimulus package.
According to a Reuters news agency on the 25th (local time), US White House spokesman John Saki said in a statement that “President Biden cannot include a minimum wage of $15 per hour in the Corona 19 stimulus worth $1.9 trillion (about 2129 trillion won). “I was disappointed with the Senate’s decision.”
The statement emphasized, “President Biden will consult with the congressional leaders to determine the best path forward,” and “because he believes that everyone should not live in poverty while working full-time.”
President Biden and the Democratic Party wanted to more than double the minimum wage, currently $7.25 by 2025, to $15 an hour.
It also sought to address the serious human and economic losses that have killed more than 500,000 Americans and created millions of unemployed people by including them in the Corona Relief Act.
Although the Senate holds an equal number of seats with the Republican Party of 50 each, the Democratic Party, which owns the chairman’s casting boat, originally planned to pass the bill without the Republican approval, using budget control rights.
However, Democrats’ Congressman Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinama supported a $11 hourly minimum wage increase and put a brake on it.
Earlier, both the House of Representatives and the Senate can pass through the Democratic Party alone, but it has been predicted that content such as an increase in the minimum wage that disagrees within the Democratic Party may be discarded after the Senate deliberation.
This is because the bill could be interpreted as a violation of the’Byrd rule’, a law that could increase the fiscal deficit, limiting the application deadline to a maximum of 10 years.
Accordingly, opinions were divided even within the Democratic Party. Progressives within the Democratic Party argued for a lump sum settlement of the economic stimulus plan, including the plan to raise the minimum wage, but Congressmen Manchin and Cinematographers, classified as moderate, opposed the increase in the minimum wage.
Senate Secretary-General Elizabeth McDonough decided that the proposed minimum wage increase could not be included in the budget control right after hearing the opinions of the Democrats and Republicans.
The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the budget bill, which excludes the minimum wage. In the House of Representatives, where the Democratic Party is the majority, it is expected to pass through. However, the passage of the Senate is unknown.
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