High Ranking U.S. Senate says Democrats can't include $ 15 minimum wage in COVID bill

Joe Biden - US President

In a blow to Democrats, a Senate lawmaker ruled he could not include a $ 15-an-hour minimum wage proposed by President Joe Biden in the

$ 1.9 trillion coronavirus bill the party aims to pass without Republican votes, lawmakers said Thursday.

Democrats and progressives had hoped to include a minimum-wage increase in legislation to help ease the economic blow of the coronavirus epidemic and better compensate low-wage workers who spent months on the forefront of the health crisis as basic workers.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement that Biden was "disappointed by the decision" and would "work with leaders in Congress to determine the best path forward because no one in this country should work full-time and live in poverty."

"We will not give up the fight to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 to help millions of American workers and their families," Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Biden and many of his Democratic friends want to more than double the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025. They included an increase in the coronavirus aid bill to help combat the heavy humanitarian and economic cost of the pandemic, which has killed more than 500,000 Americans and left millions out of work.

Democrats are trying to advance the COVID-19 bill under a special “budget compromise” process that would allow them to pass the bill by an absolute majority in the Senate so they don't need Republican support.

Two Senate Republicans, Tom Cotton and Mitt Romney proposed on Tuesday raising the minimum wage to $ 10 an hour.

Not all Democrats support a $ 15 salary. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has proposed increasing the salary to $ 11 over two years.

The current federal minimum wage is $ 7.25 an hour. It was last enlarged in 2009.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a Senate lawmaker's decision that the $ 15 minimum wage would still be included when the Democratic-controlled House passes the aid bill Friday.

FCC votes to finalize new temporary low-income internet subsidy rules

Federal Communications Commission via ( FCC)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Thursday it has voted to finalize rules for a temporary $ 3.2 billion program funded by Congress to give low-income Americans a discount on monthly internet service and the purchase of a laptop or tablet computer.

Internet access became even more critical as millions of children went to school online during the COVID-19 outbreak. Discounts go up to $ 50 a month for internet service and $ 75 on Tribal lands. The FCC expects the program to be open to eligible households in the next 60 days.

FAA orders some Boeing 777 engines to be inspected immediately after the United failure

Boeing 777

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Tuesday it was ordering immediate inspections of Boeing 777 planes with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines before further flights after an engine failed on a United flight on Saturday. The FAA said that operators should conduct a thermal acoustic image inspection of the large titanium fan blades located in front of each engine. "Based on the preliminary results we received them and other data from the ongoing investigation, the FAA may review this Directive to set a new range for this review or those that follow," the FAA said. The engine that failed on the 26-year-old Boeing 777 and left parts in a Denver suburb on Saturday was a PW4000. The engines are used in 128 aircraft or less than 10% of the global fleet of more than 1,600 777 wide-body jets.

In March 2019, after a 2018 United engine failure attributed to fan blade fatigue, the FAA ordered inspections every 6,500 cycles. A cycle is a take-off and landing.

South Korea's Ministry of Transport told airlines on Tuesday to inspect fan blades every 1,000 cycles, following Pratt's guidance after the most recent United incident.

Pratt spokesperson, owned by Raytheon Technologies, said the fan blades should be sent to the repair station in East Hartford in Connecticut for new inspections, including airlines in Japan and South Korea.

Japan’s transport ministry said on Wednesday it was examining the FAA directive and had not yet decided what action to take.

The FAA has spent the last two days discussing the scope of audit requirements, according to knowledgeable sources.

United warned of possible disruptions to its cargo flight schedule in March while juggling its fleet after it decided to scrawl 24 Boeing 777-200 planes, according to a notification sent to cargo customers.