Rep. Ilhan Omar called for the firing of a nonpartisan female government official because the Minnesotan disagrees with her legal view.
“Abolish the filibuster. Replace the parliamentarian,” the radical representative tweeted late Thursday. “What’s a Democratic majority if we can’t pass our priority bills? This is unacceptable.”
Abolish the filibuster.
Replace the parliamentarian.
What’s a Democratic majority if we can’t pass our priority bills? This is unacceptable.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 26, 2021
The Washington Post reported Friday the Biden administration “showed little appetite to challenge [Elizabeth] MacDonough following her ruling on Thursday, saying it was ‘disappointed’ but would move forward with the stimulus without the minimum-wage increase.”
The left’s hopes of passing a destructive $15-an-hour minimum wage increase at the federal level within the COVID relief bill were dashed by the decision.
Democrats now can debate various options, including rewriting the legislation or dropping the issue.
Parliamentarians are umpires who ensure lawmakers follow rules governing how legislation moves forward. MacDonough has struck prohibited measures from bills several times, irking both parties. Parliamentarians often serve for decades. Only six people have served in the role since 1935. Appointed in 2012, MacDonough is the first woman to serve as Senate parliamentarian.
Other extremists were equally irate at the 54-year-old Independent and want the vice president to break the law.
“The Senate parliamentarian issues an advisory opinion,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal furiously tweeted. “The VP can overrule them — as has been done before. We should do EVERYTHING we can to keep our promise, deliver a $15 minimum wage, and give 27 million workers a raise.”
The Senate parliamentarian issues an advisory opinion. The VP can overrule them—as has been done before.
We should do EVERYTHING we can to keep our promise, deliver a $15 minimum wage, and give 27 million workers a raise.
— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) February 25, 2021
Socialist Bernie Sanders, an ardent supporter of profligate spending, proposed an alternative plan, which includes penalties to force companies toward higher wages.
“I will be working with my colleagues in the Senate to move forward with 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,” Sanders said in a statement. “That amendment must be included in this reconciliation bill. The American people are sick and tired of subsidizing starvation wages at these companies.”
The Congressional Budget Office recently reported nearly four million jobs could be lost with a federal $15 minimum wage, and it “would have two principal effects on low-wage workers” who “would become jobless, and their family income would fall — in some cases, below the poverty threshold.”
A recent report by the National Bureau of Economic Research found the massive wage increase also increases unemployment.
This week, Republican senators put forward more nuanced, moderate plans regarding the minimum wage.
“Unemployment was disproportionately borne by teenagers, minorities, and less-educated workers,” Brad Polumbo wrote this week in the Washington Examiner. “Experts have warned that after a year of crushing COVID-19 lockdowns and riots, a minimum wage hike would spell death for small businesses.”
More than half of minimum wage earners are under 25.
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
