Tell your Senators: Fight for COVID-19 relief, minimum wage, and eliminate the filibuster.
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.
We need a strong and effective COVID-Relief bill. The American Rescue Plan that the House just sent to the Senate is the bill that we need. I know you support it, and I thank you. I ask that you:
Do not allow it to be watered-down, weakened, or sabotaged.
The $15/hour minimum wage is an essential component of the bill. The current $7.25 minimum wage is a starvation wage that will stunt and cripple economic recovery.
If Republicans filibuster, I ask you to use your majority power to abolish the filibuster, or at least exempt emergency bills like this from it – as other forms of legislation have been exempted in the past.
Since a Texas judge just ruled that the CDC-moratorium on evictions is unconstitutional, I urge you to amend the American Rescue Plan to include a health-related moratorium on evictions for the duration of the pandemic emergency.
Background
Last week the House passed a $1.9 trillion Covid-relief bill known as the “American Rescue Plan” (ARP). All of the ARP provisions are desperately needed to fight the pandemic, begin the economic recovery, and prevent millions of Americans from falling into abject poverty and homelessness. The ARP has now been sent to the Senate for action.
The most controversial provision of the ARP is a national minimum wage of $15/hour (phased in over several years). Because of the senate filibuster rule almost all legislation requires 60 votes to pass. But the senate is evenly divided – 50/50 – and given the long history of Republican Party opposition to the very idea of minimum wage laws there is no chance of the ARP getting 60 votes. The best way to fight Covid and prevent economic collapse is to end the filibuster rule which the Democrats could do if they all held together. But two Democrats, Manchin (D-WV) and Sinema (D-AZ), currently oppose the minimum wage provision in its present form, so as of now the votes are not there to end the filibuster.
To circumvent the filibuster, the ARP is being submitted to the Senate as a “Budget Reconciliation” bill. But the senate parliamentarian has advised that the minimum wage does not meet the arcane rules governing what can be included in a Reconciliation bill. If all 50 Democrats supported her, VP Harris could reject the parliamentarian's opinion, but without Manchin and Sinema's vote that cannot be done. Senator Sanders suggested that a more limited form of minimum wage increase could be imposed on large corporations though changes to the tax code, but that proved too complex to achieve before the end of this month when extended unemployment benefits will run out.
So we of Indivisible SF are urging our senators to retain the minimum wage in the ARP. This would mean either rejecting the parliamentarian's advice or ending the filibuster or creating a special senate rule exempting emergency relief bills from being filibustered. If all of that proves impossible, we will demand that the minimum wage provision be added to the upcoming economic-recovery bill, and if that fails to “must pass” legislation like defense bills -- which is how the current (inadequate) minimum wage was enacted in 2007.
At the same time that the House was passing the ARP, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas ruled that the CDC's health-emergency moratorium on tenant evictions was unconstitutional. If it’s upheld, there will be a wave of evictions and homelessness which will spread Covid contagion. The Texas ruling was based on legal arguments that elevate states rights and undercut federal authority to confront national emergencies. If the ruling stands it will become a precedent for overturning a wide range of federal initiatives to combat the pandemic and rescue the economy. We assume (and in fact, insist) that this ruling be appealed, but we also want an eviction moratorium added to the ARP to provide additional protection to renters and strengthen the legal grounds for striking down this outrageous ruling.
References
Eliminating the Filibuster ~ Indivisible
A Brief Political History of the Filibuster ~ ISF
Interactive map on $15/hour minimum wage ~ EPI, 2021.
House Democrats unveil draft coronavirus relief legislation ~ The Hill, 2/8/21
Judge rules CDC eviction moratorium unconstitutional, ~ The Hill, 2/25
Text of Texas eviction ruling ~ U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, 2/25 (PDF)