Biden’s Minimum-Wage Increase Ruled Out of Order for Senate (3)

Prospects for using President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-relief bill as a vehicle for raising the U.S. minimum wage to $15 per hour took a possibly fatal blow on Thursday, when a Senate official ruled that Democrats cannot use a fast-track budget procedure to make the change.

Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has found that the wage provision does not have a sufficient fiscal impact in relation to its effect on the economy to qualify for budget reconciliation, according to a person familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That means Democrats will almost certainly have to ...