Tell your Senators: Fight for the $15 Minimum Wage!
Call BOTH of your Senators.
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour is the single most effective legislative step to lift families out of poverty and combat growing inequality in wealth and economic power. President Biden and VP Harris have asked that it be included in the COVID Relief bill. The complicated process of passing that bill has just begun, but Republicans have already made clear that they oppose minimum wage laws and intend to use the “Byrd Rule” to keep it out of the Relief Bill.
I urge you to end the filibuster so that all legislation can be enacted by a simple majority vote. If filibuster repeal cannot be achieved, emergency bills should be exempted from filibuster sabotage. If that is not possible, and the Relief Bill has to be enacted using the Reconciliation process, and the Parliamentarian advises that a minimum wage is barred by the Byrd Rule, Vice President Harris or whomever is acting as the Senate's presiding officer must use their legal authority to reject the Parliamentarian's opinion. Republicans will no doubt cry “foul” and preach about bipartisanship and decorum. But for far too long, Senate rules and customs have resulted in widening inequality so that the rich get richer, while We the People suffer increasing hardship and economic insecurity. Comity and bipartisanship have their value, but not at the price of justice and equality. So I ask you to fight hard for $15, with every tool at your disposal.
Background
The federal minimum hourly wage of just $7.25 has not increased since 2009. Because of inflation it's effective buying power today has declined to only $5.93 in 2009 dollars. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift pay for 32 million workers nationwide — 21% of the U.S. labor force. It would provide an additional $107 billion in wages for the country’s lowest-paid workers, with the average affected worker receiving an extra $3,300 a year. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour is the single most effective legislative step that can be taken to lift families out of poverty and combat growing inequality in wealth and economic power. President Biden and VP Harris have asked that it be included in the Covid Relief bill.
Republicans have always opposed minimum wage laws. Now that they no longer have a congressional majority they intend to kill it with procedures such as the filibuster and the “Byrd Rule.” Assuming all Democrats stand together they have a slim 51-50 majority in the Senate, but under the filibuster rule a bill needs 60 votes to pass — which would require 10 Republican votes. We want to end, or at least amend, the filibuster, but that may not be possible at this time. So long as the filibuster stands as it is, the only way to enact legislation by majority vote is by using the very limited “Reconciliation” process. One of the limits on Reconciliation is the “Byrd Rule” that limits what kind of provisions can be included in a reconciliation bill.
McConnell intends to use the Byrd Rule to knock the minimum wage out of the Relief bill. Democrats will argue that including minimum wage in the bill does not transgress the Byrd Rule. If the Senate Parliamentarian agrees, Republicans will need a 60-vote majority to knock it out using a point of order. But if the Parliamentarian advises that the minimum wage does not meet the Byrd test, the presiding officer (Harris or Leahy) has the authority to reject that advice. But rejecting the advice of the Parliamentarian has not been done since 1975. Doing so would break Senate comity and decorum, which Republicans care nothing about when they are in power, but raise pious cries about whenever Democrats use the rules to aid ordinary working Americans rather than the super-rich.
In the beginning of the filibuster (from a Dutch word for “pirate”), senators had to publicly hold the floor and display their obstructionism. As filibusters became more common, the requirement to hold the floor with endless talk was eliminated, and now any senator can launch a filibuster simply by objecting to moving forward on a vote. Once that objection is filed, it takes 60-votes on a “cloture” motion to move ahead with a Yes/No majority-rule vote on the matter at hand. So as a practical matter, almost all legislation in the Senate now requires a 60-vote supermajority.
When Senate majorities are narrow, as they usually are, this means that a stubborn minority can pretty much hold up all Senate business. So over the years, the rules were amended to exempt certain topics from being filibustered, such as cabinet and judicial confirmations. When it became impossible to pass a budget, the Senate set up the “Reconciliation” process to exempt one budget-related bill per year from the filibuster. But conservatives feared that liberals might sneak some progressive civil rights, domestic spending, or social-welfare provisions into that one bill, so they enacted the “Byrd Rule” to limit what could go into it. It's called the “Byrd Rule” because it was promulgated by the arch-conservative Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) who is famous for leading the 83-day filibuster against passage of the Civil Rights Act.
Laws and rules, however, must be weighed and interpreted. That's why we have judges and courts. Democrats can make a valid case that including the minimum wage in the Covid Relief bill does not violate the Byrd Rule. Republicans will argue the opposite. The Senate Parliamentarian advises the Senate's presiding officer on issues such as how the Byrd Rule affects a provision in a bill. But it is the presiding officer – VP Harris, or Sen. Leahy, or their delegate – who actually rules on whether something violates the Byrd Rule. It's long been customary for the presiding officer to accept the advice of the Parliamentarian but that is not mandatory, and in the past they've ruled as they thought appropriate. If the presiding officer rules that a minimum wage provision can be included in the Relief Bill, Republicans will appeal it to the chamber, and that appeal will be voted up or down by a simple majority vote. If Democrats stand together they can uphold the ruling of the chair and include a minimum wage provision in the Relief bill.
References
Why the U.S. needs a $15 minimum wage ~ EPI, 2021
Interactve map on $15/hour minimum wage ~ EPI, 2021.
Pelosi, Schumer File Joint FY2021 Budget Resolution to Give Congress Additional Legislative Tool to Pass Urgently-Needed COVID Relief ~ Speaker Pelosi, 2/1/21
Effort to Include $15 Minimum Wage in Relief Bill Poses Test for Democrats ~ NY Times, 1/31/21
Progressives push controversial proposal on budget reconciliation ~ The Hill 1/31/21
The Budget Reconciliation Process: The Senate’s “Byrd Rule” ~ Congressional Research Service
Byrd Rule Summary ~ House Rules Committee
The Office of the Parliamentarian in the House and Senate ~ Congressional Research Service