Harris Needs to Put Working-Class Policy Before DC Decorum
Three years ago, Kamala Harris bypassed a chance to raise the federal minimum wage out of respect for Senate procedure. Now she’s campaigning on a relatively progressive economic agenda — but is she willing to break Capitol Hill’s rules to fight for it?
US vice president Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) talk prior to an address by Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida at the US Capitol on April 11, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
As Vice President Kamala Harris begins sketching out her policy agenda as the presumptive Democratic nominee, one element isn’t being discussed: the arcane Senate procedures that could stop any bold action under a Harris presidency.
Three years ago, in her role as vice president and president of the Senate, Harris could have ignored some of those procedures and increased the federal minimum wage, but failed to do so. Now that she’s promising to raise the minimum wage and deliver other pro–working class concessions on the campaign trail, will she be willing to act differently?
While the Harris-Walz ticket has only just begun to flesh out its vague policy agenda, one of the few actions it’s vowed to take is to increase the federal minimum wage. Today employers are required to offer workers just $7.25 an hour.
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