Big companies that don’t pay their workers at least $15 per hour will be taxed with the new, alternative minimum wage plan, presented by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Friday and supported by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) The Senate Budget Committee Chairman and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), reported The Hill.
“For decades, the wages of everyday, working Americans remained stagnate [sic] while monopoly corporations have consolidated industry, securing record profits for CEOs and investment bankers,” said Hawley in the statement.
“Mega-corporations can afford to pay their workers $15 an hour, and it’s long past time they do so, but this should not come at the expense of small businesses already struggling to make it,” he continued.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough undermined the efforts of progressive Democrats pushing for a $15 minimum wage, by ruling that the plan couldn’t be included in the reconciliation process of the budget.
The Democrats were hoping to use the reconciliation process that requires only a simple majority to pass in the Senate, to place the minimum wage as a part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
It was Sanders’ idea and he said that he would work on an amendment to tax the big and profitable companies that are paying below $15 an hour minimum wage.
“That amendment must be included in this reconciliation bill,” said Sanders.
There are various plans and their details are not aligned, especially with the elements that would subsidize wages for smaller companies.
Sanders and Hawley were also supporting similar policy goals last year, when they teamed up to support a legislation for increasing the COVID-19 stimulus payments from $600 to $2000.
Only after the legislation passed both chambers, the measure gained support from many GOP senators, including former President Trump, who endorsed the approach and signed the original legislation into law.
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