[“So if that $15 minimum wage isn’t in this package, we are
going to have to figure out a way to get it through. And if that means
reforming the filibuster, then we should reform the filibuster," Rep.
Pramila Jayapal said.] [[link removed]]

PROGRESSIVES PUSH TO SQUASH SENATE FILIBUSTER AFTER MINIMUM WAGE
DEFEAT  
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Marianne LeVine, Laura Barrón-López and Sarah Ferris
February 26, 2021
Politico
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_ “So if that $15 minimum wage isn’t in this package, we are
going to have to figure out a way to get it through. And if that means
reforming the filibuster, then we should reform the filibuster," Rep.
Pramila Jayapal said. _

Pramila Jayapal, Joe Mabel CC BY-SA 3.0

 

Progressives are willing to accept defeat on the minimum wage for now
and vote for President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package. But
they're channeling their energy into a renewed push to kill the
filibuster.

One day after the Senate parliamentarian effectively forced a $15
minimum wage hike out of Democrats' coronavirus relief package,
leading liberal activists are racing to turn their bitter setback into
opportunity. The need to sacrifice a key Biden priority in order to
ensure the Covid aid bill can pass the Senate with a simple majority
has handed progressive lawmakers and their allied groups a new talking
point in their long-running quest to eliminate the legislative
filibuster.

We promised a $15 minimum wage,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal
(D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “So if
that $15 minimum wage isn’t in this package, we are going to have to
figure out a way to get it through. And if that means reforming the
filibuster, then we should reform the filibuster.”

Democrats pushed hard to raise the minimum wage as part of the
pandemic relief measure, which the Senate can pass with just 51 votes
thanks to the protections of the arcane budget reconciliation process.
But now that the chamber's parliamentarian has ruled out adding the
wage hike to the coronavirus bill, progressives see nuking the
filibuster outright as their best — and perhaps only — chance of
getting to $15 an hour.

Very few Senate Democrats believe that the left's demands to toss the
chamber’s 60-vote threshold will have any effect on the dynamic in
their 50-member caucus, where there's currently not enough support
for eliminating the filibuster. Still, pressure from progressives on
and off the Hill — who turned the filibuster into a wedge issue
during the Democratic presidential primary — is rapidly intensifying
in only the second month of Biden’s tenure.

With Democrats preparing to take up other high-priority legislation,
including a landmark voting rights bill and police reform, liberals'
clamor to end the filibuster is bound to cause new political headaches
for party leaders.

Thursday night's setback on the minimum wage is the first of many
potential stressors to come as Democrats rethink the future of the
legislative filibuster. Few of the party's major policy priorities
stand a real chance of passing the Senate without eliminating the tool
that requires a 60-vote margin of approval for most measures.

"It's going to take a few more issues that get momentarily frustrated
for it to fully come to a head but we're getting closer by the day,"
said Brian Fallon, executive director of the liberal group Demand
Justice.

Exactly which agenda item might constitute the Democratic breaking
point is unclear, as the party pushes for a voting rights expansion,
immigration reform and more.

Former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada ended the
filibuster for executive-branch and some judicial nominees in 2013, a
move known as the "nuclear option," and current GOP leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky continued down the path in 2017 by ending the
filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.

"It may be that you have to demonstrate for the American people how
grave a challenge it is to get major change done that affects their
lives when you've got the blockade that the filibuster allows," said
Sen Bob Casey (D-Pa.), noting that he and other Senate Democrats who
wouldn't have supported ending the filibuster "are much more open to
it" now.Biden has consistently resisted calls to go nuclear and his
press secretary reiterated that position after he took office. But
he's now confronting an aligned array of progressives in the House,
Senate and outside advocacy groups newly emboldened to agitate against
what they consider an arcane rule that’s a relic of the Jim
Crow-era.

“The filibuster was never in the constitution, originated mostly by
accident, and has historically been used to block civil rights,”
tweeted Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) shortly after the Senate
parliamentarian’s ruling. “It’s time to trash the Jim Crow
filibuster.”

Schatz acknowledged in an interview Friday that Democrats currently
“don’t have the votes to get rid of the filibuster,” but said
the party can’t just throw up its hands and accept gridlock. “This
is a monumental change, this is a necessary change,” he said.

Failing to fulfill the party’s promise of passing a $15 minimum wage
could have dire consequences for Democrats at the ballot box,
progressive lawmakers argue. Biden campaigned on increasing the hourly
wage for the first time in a decade. The issue is also a longtime
priority for key Democratic constituencies, including labor unions.

The pressure is particularly intense in the House, where leaders of
the Congressional Progressive Caucus have long expected that the
minimum wage battle would turn into a broader debate on the
filibuster. Some have privately been girding to have this exact fight
with Senate institutionalists at this exact time.

Some on the left still believe their party could take up a fight with
the parliamentarian, the Senate’s chief rules referee, to force the
minimum wage provision into the bill. But most believe it's a
longshot, and are are eyeing the legislative filibuster as the bigger
problem.

“Our immediate options on this specific issue [are] to do something
about this parliamentary obstacle or abolish the filibuster,” said
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

“We hope that the senators, the administration, fight as hard as
we’ve been fighting,” added Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). “I think
it is time that we stop coming up with excuses to do the right
thing.”

Even if the filibuster were eliminated, however, it’s unclear if the
$15 minimum wage would actually pass the Senate. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema
(D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have said they do not support
increasing the minimum wage to $15 as part of the coronavirus relief
package. Manchin has said he supports an $11 minimum wage, which
Ocasio-Cortez and others on the left have declared a nonstarter.

And when a group of Senate Republicans introduced a proposal this week
to increase the minimum wage to $10, progressives blared their
objections. Asked if she’d accept a compromise below $15, Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) responded: “We need $15 an hour. That’s
where I am.”

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Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are vocally opposing calls to eliminate
the legislative filibuster. During negotiations on a power sharing
agreement for the 50-50 Senate, McConnell insisted that Democrats
commit to keeping the 60-vote threshold, a proposal that Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected. And Republicans are quick to
remind Democrats that they resisted pressure from then-President
Donald Trump to do away with it when they controlled Washington in
2017.

Liberal activists have continually pressured skeptical Democrats on
abolishing the legislative filibuster, mounting ad campaigns targeting
Schumer — who is up for reelection next year — and others. Since
Thursday’s ruling on the minimum wage hike, social justice groups
such as Ultraviolet, Women’s March and the Sunrise Movement have
called on Biden and Senate Democrats to get rid of the 60-vote margin.

“Everything the voters voted for that helped place Joe Biden in the
White House requires the Senate to be able to fully function,” Rahna
Epting, executive director of MoveOn, said in an interview.

Nina Turner, an ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who is running for
an open House seat in Ohio, said progressives have no plans to let up
on their opposition to the filibuster.

“The people who were hired to do the people's bidding are going to
have to get the courage to do away with it,” said Turner. “A
breaking point is coming. I just don't know the what or the when.”

_Marianne LeVine is a reporter for POLITICO, where she covers the
Senate. She previously covered lobbying and co- authored POLITICO
Influence. @marianne_levine_

_Laura Barrón-López is a White House Correspondent for POLITICO.
Barrón-López previously led 2018 coverage of Democrats for the
Washington Examiner._

_Sarah Ferris covers the House for POLITICO’s Congress team,
focusing on the Democratic caucus. She has covered Capitol Hill for
six years, including stints focused on budget and health care policy
for POLITICO Pro and The Hill newspaper. @sarahnferris_

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