(CNN) Sen. Bernie Sanders argued Saturday that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour isn't "incidental" to the federal budget, despite skepticism from Capitol Hill and the White House of its future in President Joe Biden's Covid-19 relief package. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour stands as the biggest obstacle to getting the President's $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill across the finish line. But Sanders, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, has remained confident that the minimum wage increase will meet the rules required through reconciliation and does not violate the Byrd Rule , which keeps "extraneous" measures out of the budget. Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who enforces the Byrd Rule, has yet to determine whether the minimum wage measure is within the rules of reconciliation. Senators can challenge the parliamentarian's decisions and vote to waive the Byrd Rule, but they would need a 60 vote majority to do so.

Source: CNN February 20, 2021 16:48 UTC