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The Senate Parliamentarian recently ruled that a raise in the minimum wage to $15-an-hour could not be part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package as it was not proper under budget conciliation. Biden signaled that his administration would abide by the ruling. The only alternative is to offer it as a separate bill although it probably would not get the 60 votes necessary to pass unless the Senate filibuster rule is eliminated. 

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), raising the minimum wage to $15-an-hour by 2025 would affect 17 million workers whose wages would otherwise be below $15 per hour, and many of the 10 million workers whose wages would otherwise be slightly above that wage rate would also be affected. This is the same workforce that has borne the economic brunt of the pandemic. The CBO also estimates outlays would fall for these public assistance programs, as they predict the higher minimum wage would lift nearly 1 million people out of poverty. However, employment would be reduced by 1.4 million or 0.9%. Poverty would be reduced by 0.9 million. 

Is $15 too much when as of August 31, 163,735 total U.S. businesses on Yelp closed, 97,966 of them permanently due to the pandemic? Or should the minimum wage be more targeted — more in higher cost-of-living states like California and New York and lower in lower cost-of-living states or continue to leave the amount of a minimum wage up to each individual state? Presently 25 states are changing their minimum wage in 2021. 

Senator Bernie Sanders said he will work with other Senate Democrats on "an amendment to take tax deductions away from large, profitable corporations that don't pay workers at least $15 an hour and to provide small businesses with the incentives they need to raise wages." 

The Senate Republicans proposed an alternative called the Higher Wages for American Workers Act, the bill, which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $10, from its current level of $7.25, by 2025 and then index the wage to inflation every two years. The proposal would give businesses with fewer than 20 employees two extra years to meet the minimum, and would mandate that all employers check the legal status of workers through the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system. But they have tied the minimum wage hike to a more traditional Republican issue: immigration compliance measures. 

The equities seem to favor a raise in the minimum wage regardless of the projected job loss. And Americans agree. According to a Pew Research Center survey, two-thirds of Americans (67%) support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 41% wh say they strongly favor such an increase. Perhaps a compromise between Democrats and Republicans can be reached whereas the minimum wage could be set somewhere between $10 and $15. The Congressional Democrats shouldn’t stubbornly demand a $15-an-hour minimum wage; it shouldn’t be an all or nothing exercise.