Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., are working on a minimum wage compromise they hope can garner bipartisan support after Senate Democrats failed to pass a $15 minimum wage, reports the Washington Examiner.
A group of 20 additional senators, 10 Republican and 10 Democrats will be negotiating the bill with the two senators.
Romney was mum on the specifics, however, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a member of the group, reported the number he believes will pass, “I think it’s $11,” he said, according to the Washington Examiner.
“We’re negotiating a minimum wage proposal which we would ultimately take to our group of 20 and see how they would react to it and go from there,” Manchin told reporters on Wednesday.
Romney previously opposed the $15 version of the federal minimum wage bill that Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont pushed in March, and introducing a counterproposal with Sen. Tom Cotton ,R-Ark., to raise it to $10 over five years along with a mandate for employers to check the legal status of workers, reported Forbes.
"American workers today compete against millions of illegal immigrants for too few jobs with wages that are too low — that’s unfair," Cotton said Feb. 23. "Ending the black market for illegal labor will open up jobs for Americans. Raising the minimum wage will allow Americans filling those jobs to better support their families. Our bill does both," reports the Washington Examiner.
However, GOP and Democratic Senators continue to wrangle over the amount of the proposed increase.
Assuming normal positions on this issue, the Republican senators' proposal was met with criticism while Democratic leaders argued the proposal fell short, echoing calls for a wage increase to $15. "We can’t compromise on this," Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., tweeted, "We need to pass a $15 minimum wage immediately — and then we need to raise it again," she said on Twitter.
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib called the Republican $10 suggestion a "cruel joke." "Poverty cannot be overcome just by $2.75/hour more," she said referring to the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 and the $10 proposal.
"Liveable wage now." she added on Twitter.
Republicans argued that an increase to $15.00 would hurt small business. "The biggest corporations in America can afford to pay their workers $15 an hour," Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri tweeted, "Raise the minimum wage for big business, not small business," reports the Washington Examiner.
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