Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ effort to insert a $15 minimum wage provision into the massive coronavirus spending bill officially failed late Friday and set a record for the longest vote in modern Senate history in the meantime.
Sanders faced bipartisan opposition with just 42 Democrats siding with him and 58 senators voting “no” when the vote was finally announced shortly before 11 p.m. on Friday.
The voting started at 11:03 a.m. and it was clear shortly thereafter that Sanders’ effort to boost wages would fall short of the 60 votes needed to be included in President Biden‘s signature stimulus legislation to fight the pandemic and boost the economy.
But senators kept the vote open for a record 11 hours and 50 minutes in a major delay tactic, as Democrats were scrambling to secure support for another amendment to change unemployment insurance benefits. After prolonged negotiations that involved the White House, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., eventually signed off on the deal, allowing the minimum wage vote to finally close.
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