President Biden and Vice President Harris at podium; from The White House Facebook page
Reprinted from The Wall Street Journal by Kristina Peterson and Andrew Restuccia on February 12, 2021.
House Democrats are preparing to stitch together a legislative version of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal next week, which will include an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour despite a second Senate Democrat opposing it this week.
House committees spent the past week shaping portions of the legislation, including the proposal to gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 over four years. Early next week, the House Budget Committee is expected to assemble all the pieces into one bill, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., California) said should pass the full House by the end of the month.
Democrats can’t afford to lose a single vote from their ranks in the evenly divided Senate. But the office of Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D., Arizona) said this week that she wouldn’t support including the minimum wage increase in the coronavirus relief package, joining Senator Joe Manchin (D., West Virginia) and most Republicans in opposing its inclusion. Politico first reported her decision. …
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation last March, many large food retailers increased their frontline workers’ pay by several dollars an hour. Dubbed ‘hero pay,’ the programs have since ended, despite the remaining dangers […]
Judging by the $14 million box office tally for The Croods: A New Age over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend span, the theatrical movie business will rebound, in the view of National CineMedia CEO Tom Lesinski. Speaking Tuesday at the Bank […]
A chorus of calls for mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations – and the possibility that the industry soon might make them a requirement – prompted SAG-AFTRA to adopt new guidelines for employers who want to require […]