U.S Senate rejects amendment to minimum wage hike due to shortage of votes

On Friday the U.S. Senate failed to pass the amendment of minimum wage hike due to a curtailment of votes. The amendment to double the federal minimum wage over a time span of five years is considered one of the major debate issues following President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.

The Senate fell far short of the 60 votes needed to overrule the Senate parliamentarian’s decision that a minimum wage increase cannot be included in the bill because of special rules governing debate.
According to the Biden administration, this amendment is essential to stem the continuing economic fallout from the pandemic, with only a simple majority of supporters in the 100-member Senate, instead of 60 votes needed for most bills to clear procedural hurdles.
Sanders attempted to raise what he called a “starvation wage” of $7.25 an hour to $15 over five years.
Democrats pledged to continue pursuing the minimum wage increase in legislation separate from the COVID-19 aid bill.
As Congress raced to approve the economic stimulus bill, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that U.S. employment surged in February, adding 379,000 jobs, significantly higher than what many economists had expected.
According to the media report, The U.S. unemployment rate, while still high at 6.2% last month, was down from 6.3% in January.