Ocasio-Cortez, Progressives Challenge Biden on Minimum Wage Hike
- Left-leaning Democrats want Senate rules changed or ignored
- Next steps could shape Biden agenda on infrastructure, climate
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The Senate scramble over raising the federal minimum wage is presenting the first major test of the uneasy alliance between the Democratic Party’s vocal progressive wing and President Joe Biden just 37 days into his administration.
After the Senate parliamentarian ruled that putting a stepped increase in the wage to $15 an hour in Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan didn’t comply with Senate budget rules, progressives in Congress and allied outside groups are mounting a campaign to get the White House to support either changing or ignoring the chamber’s procedures to push the legislation through.