By a voice vote, senators backed an amendment from Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, to “prohibit the increase of the federal minimum wage during a global pandemic.” It was a signal that the wage hike would be difficult to pass in an evenly split Senate, where at least one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, was on record opposing it.
“A $15 federal minimum wage would be devastating for our hardest-hit small businesses at a time they can least afford it,” Ernst said on the Senate floor. “We should not have a one-size-fits-all policy set by Washington politicians.”
The Senate’s leading proponent of the $15 minimum wage, Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, seemed unfazed. He said that his plan was to carry out the wage increase over five years and that he had never wanted to raise it during the pandemic.
“We need to end the crisis of starvation wages in Iowa and around the United States,” Mr. Sanders said, taking a swipe at Ms. Ernst’s home state. He added that he planned to try to get the phased-in wage increase included in a budget reconciliation bill that would allow Biden’s stimulus plan to circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule.