Bernie Sanders’ $15 wage hike: ‘A bipartisan failure’ that caused an uproar on Twitter

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders’ amendment which sought an increase in the minimum wage of Americans, who struggle with recovering from the financial dents caused by the pandemic, failed in the US Senate on Friday. The amendment was unable to get through all Republicans and a few Democrats with the vote ending at a 42-58 divide. 

Sanders, a prominent Senator from the state of Vermont, said in a statement, “If any senator believes this is the last time they will cast a vote on whether or not to give a raise to 32 million Americans, they are sorely mistaken. We’re going to keep bringing it up, and we’re going to get it done because it is what the American people demand and need,” implying that he will not get entangled in party politics and will continue to seek the acceptance of the amendment, reported CBS News. 

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The amendment was initiated by the 79-year-old Senator after it Elizabeth MacDonough, a Senate Parliamentarian, announced that the wage hike is not eligible to be included in the COVID-19 relief package, initiated by US President Joe Biden, under the reconciliation process of the budget. 

While addressing the upper house of US lawmakers, Sanders stated, “I think the parliamentarian was dead wrong. But more importantly, it is an absurd process that we allow an unelected staffer, somebody who works for the Senate, not elected by anybody, to make a decision as to whether 30 million Americans get a pay raise or not”, reported CBS News. 

The Senate saw heated moments of voting, while the amendment was under consideration, when a total of eight democrats joined hands with their Republican counterparts to fail the initiative which required a simple majority. Krysten Sinema, a Democratic Senator of Arizona, went one step ahead and made a gesture while casting her vote which fetched her criticism from supporters of the amendment on Twitter. 

The Senator walked up to the dais and showed a thumbs down to the lawmakers who were keeping a count of the votes. Interestingly, the lawmaker vouched for a similar effort in 2014 where she tweeted “A full-time minimum-wage earner makes less than $16k a year. This one’s a no-brainer. Tell Congress to raise the wage.” 

The rejection of the $15 wage hike in the US Senate has attracted heavy criticism on Twitter where alliances and organisations which supported the initiative started speaking out against the senate’s decision. 

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Shortly after the vote, the Senator also released a statement justifying her vote against the amendment, which in turn fanned the flame of those who were critical of the decision. 

While Sinema faced a backlash faced on Twitter, few netizens from the state of Arizona started questioning their decisions about their vote and stated that the next time they will “elect a real democrat.”