Here is something from The Daily Wire…lots of good stuff here…
| Washington this week was consumed with talk about a new $15 minimum wage and radically transforming the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Democrats, who now control both chambers of Congress, are pushing to hike the minimum wage to $15 per hour. There’s only one problem: The parliamentarian for the U.S. Senate ruled that the provision can’t be added to a COVID-relief bill now working its way through Capitol Hill. But that isn’t deterring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has vowed to add the wage hike despite the ruling, while Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged to find a way around the ruling. On Thursday, the Democrat-controlled House pushed through the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of one’s self-perceived “gender identity,” sparking nationwide debate and strong pushback from Republicans. Meanwhile, a four-star admiral who worked in the Trump administration said he’s “so tired of the continuing lies” coming from President Joe Biden on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Finally, the White House spent much of the week dodging questions about how former President Donald Trump’s “kids in cages” has morphed into Biden’s “migrant facility for children.” Here’s your latest installment of Washington Wire. |
| 1. Parliamentarian Says No Go |
| The Democrat-endorsed COVID-19 relief bill cannot include a provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour if the bill were passed through the reconciliation process, the parliamentarian for the U.S. Senate announced on Thursday. Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, informed key senators on Thursday that the minimum wage hike cannot stay in the COVID-19 relief bill because it would only have an “incidental” effect on the budget, according to The New York Times. Under the reconciliation process, the Senate can pass a bill with a filibuster-proof simple majority, but any amendment must be germane, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The White House has been pushing for a $15 minimum wage, although President Joe Biden has reportedly expressed skepticism that it could survive reconciliation, telling a group of Democratic mayors and governors last week that “it just doesn’t look like we can do it,” according to Politico. Should the legislation pass the House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would then be forced to decide whether to rewrite the language of the minimum wage hike, in an attempt to make it comply with the Senate rules, or just scrap the hike completely. |
| 2. Pelosi Says It’s Still A Go |
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Thursday that Democrats will still hold a vote on a COVID-19 relief bill that includes a provision to raise the wage to $15 per hour, despite the parliamentarian’s ruling. “The ruling from the Senate parliamentarian is disappointing, because raising the minimum wage would give 27 million Americans a well-deserved raise and pull nearly one million Americans out of poverty in the middle of a once-in-a-century devastating pandemic and economic crisis,” said Pelosi in a statement. “House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary. Therefore, this provision will remain in the American Rescue Plan on the floor tomorrow. Democrats in the House are determined to pursue every possible path in the Fight For 15,” she added. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden “will work with leaders in Congress to determine the best path forward because no one in this country should work full time and live in poverty.” |
| 3. Socialist Sanders: Raise Taxes! |
| Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) this week suggested he would develop a work-around plan to increase wages across the U.S. after the Senate parliamentarian determined that lawmakers couldn’t do so through the reconciliation process, the same process that would allow Democrats to pass a bill without any Republican support. “In the coming days, 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 announced on Thursday evening. “That amendment must be included in this reconciliation bill.” In responding to the parliamentarian’s decision, Sanders called the rules of the Senate “archaic and undemocratic.” “I strongly disagree with tonight’s decision by the Senate Parliamentarian. The CBO made it absolutely clear that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour had a substantial budgetary impact and should be allowed under reconciliation. It is hard for me to understand how drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was considered to be consistent with the Byrd Rule, while increasing the minimum wage is not,” Sanders said. |
| 4. Democrats Move To Enshrine “Gender Identity” |
| The House passed sweeping reforms to the Civil Rights Act on Thursday, enshrining broad mandates regarding the treatment of LGBT people. The radical Equality Act passed with a 224-206 vote and will, among other things, make it illegal to discriminate based on one’s self-defined “gender identity.” The Democratic caucus voted unanimously in favor of the bill along with three Republican House members who sided with the Democrats against the rest of their caucus. Critics say the legislation tramples the rights of religious Americans in favor of the LGBT community and would put many Americans in situations of either following the law or violating deeply held religious beliefs. “This body being led by Democrats is trampling the rights of the people in the name of ‘equality,’ in the false name of ‘equality,’” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said in remarks on the Capitol steps. “Our federalist system allows us to agree to disagree, and we should be able to do that. But if this Democratic Congress, and if the Democratic leadership, and if this White House continues to trample |
| 5. Admiral Tells Biden To Stop Lying |
| Admiral Brett Giroir, M.D., who served as Assistant Secretary for Health under former President Donald Trump, on Thursday unloaded on Biden for falsely claiming that the Trump administration left no vaccination plan for the incoming administration. Biden last week said, “We’re moving in the right direction, though, despite the mess we inherited from the previous administration, which left us with no real plan to vaccinate all Americans. And every time we administer another 50 million shots, I’m going to use that milestone to report to the American people on our vaccination program and our overall fight against this pandemic.” But Giroir ripped Biden on Twitter, saying: “I am so tired of the continuing lies that @potus inherited a #COVID19Vaccine mess, when in fact 99% of current vaccine manufacturing and distribution is EXACTLY as planned and explicitly described by Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed.” During the 2020 campaign, Biden vowed to deliver 100 million vaccinations within his first 100 days. But Team Trump was already on track to do so, delivering more than 1.4 million vaccines on the very day Biden took office — thanks to the Trump administration. |
| 6. Now It’s “Migrant Facility For Children” |
| Throughout Trump’s four years in the White House, the mainstream media, like The Washington Post, repeatedly cited “kids in cages,” claiming foreigners entering the U.S. illegally had their children ruthlessly snatched from them and shoved into cages (it was actually former President Barack Obama who built the facilities). But all that’s changed now. “First migrant facility for children opens under Biden,” said the Post headline on Monday. But in another twist, the facility was opened by the Trump administration. Psaki avoided directly answering multiple questions from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy on Wednesday afternoon about the Biden administration’s “facility.” “We’ve seen some photos now of containers. Is there a better description?” Doocy asked. “Is it kids in containers instead of kids in cages? What is the White House’s description of this facility?” “Well, let me give a broader description of what’s happening here,” Psaki said, and then dodged the question. |
| 7. Meme Of The Week |
