Breaking: Democrat effort to hike minimum wage in COVID relief bill dies after ruling from Senate parliamentarian



The effort to include a hike in the federal minimum wage as a part of the COVID-19 relief bill perished on Thursday after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that it could not be included in the legislation.

Democrats have been pushing for the controversial wage hike, while Republicans have warned that it would lead to an increase in unemployment and shuttered businesses.

CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju reported the development based on his sources in the Senate.

"No minimum wage in the budget reconciliation bill, a big loss for Democrats. Parliamentarian says it's not within the Senate rules of reconciliation," reported Raju.

The report said that the wage hike could not be included because it is a "mandate on businesses" as it it currently written.

The ruling will make the passage of the bill more likely since moderate Democrats like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia had voiced their opposition to the bill if it included the wage hike.

While progressives had vehemently denounced Democrats for not supporting the minimum wage hike enough, they also indicated that they would back down if the parliamentarian ruled against it. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) said that if Democrats had excised it from the bill they would be pressed to vote against it altogether.

"If $15 is not in the package due to parliamentary reasons, that's one consideration and I would be open to voting for the package," said Ocasio-Cortez to CNN.

"If Democrats strip it out, or if they change, fundamentally alter the provision and it's essentially removed for political reasons, that is where, I think, not just myself but a substantial amount of progressives are kind of in a difficult spot," she added.

Other progressives like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called on Vice President Kamala Harris to disregard the order and include the hike in the bill.

"I'm sorry—an unelected parliamentarian does not get to deprive 32 million Americans the raise they deserve. This is an advisory, not a ruling. VP Harris needs to disregard and rule a $15 minimum wage in order. We were elected to deliver for the people. It's time we do our job," Khanna tweeted.

Here's more on the ruling at the Senate:

Minimum wage increase will not be included in Covid relief billwww.youtube.com

Maxine Waters is outraged that people want Democrats to negotiate with Republicans on 'coronavirus-19' relief bill



Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California appeared to justify Democrats stalling on negotiations with Republicans on the coronavirus relief bill because of legal action taken by the president regarding the election.

Waters was on "The Reid Out" show with Joy Reid on MSNBC when she made the comments Tuesday. She recited a list of lawsuits that President Donald Trump and his team had filed in an attempt to overturn the results of the election and called it, "the highest form of voter suppression."

She went on to claim that Democrats could not negotiate with Republicans on the coronavirus relief bill.

"Either they are so afraid so intimidated so bullied by the president of the United States, they can't stand up for Democracy, and the Constitution. That is hard to believe, hard to understand," said Waters.

"But when people say to us, 'why don't you negotiate with them on coronavirus-19 response, and help the people, why can't you come to an agreement?' Do you understand what we're dealing with?" she asked rhetorically.

"We're dealing with people who [are] willing to undermine their Democracy, people who have claimed to be patriots, people who don't have any respect for the Constitution, and you expect us to be able to sit down with them, and for them to negotiate with us in good faith!" Waters added.

"This is awful, the world is watching," she concluded.

While Waters only implied that Democrats wouldn't work with Republicans on getting relief to Americans suffering from the economic effect of the coronavirus lockdowns, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) outright admitted it was the case in an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also lashed out at a CNN reporter when he pointed out that Democrats were settling for far less in the relief package when they stalled before the election.

Here's the video of Waters' comments:

Maxine Waters DEFENDS holding up coronavirus relief for struggling Americans because Democrats shouldn't debase the… https://t.co/yOGB1e10PC
— Curtis Houck (@Curtis Houck)1608077638.0