Early Saturday the House passed, by a 219-212, vote President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid relief package, which includes $1,400 stimulus checks, increased jobless benefits payments, and Covid-19 vaccine funding.

The bill, H.R. 1319 or the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also includes a $15 minimum wage. However, the wage increase is set to fail in the Senate, as the parliamentarian has ruled that the increase can't be included.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said during a press briefing late Friday that "if it [the $15 minimum wage] doesn't prevail because of Senate rules, we will persist. But we will not stop until we, very soon, pass the $15 minimum wage."

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Melanie Waddell

Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.