Ignore the Procedural Questions. Senate Democratic Support for a $15 Minimum Wage Is Soft.

Take a quick scan at the discourse surrounding Democrats’ desire to increase the minimum wage to $15 in Biden’s recovery plan, and you’ll read much about the procedural obstacles they face in trying to do so.

The main procedural hurdle is that a minimum wage increase may not be allowed under the filibuster-free process, called budget reconciliation, that they’re using to pass Biden’s COVID relief package with 50 votes. That determination would be made by the Senate parliamentarian. There is, then, a secondary procedural question about whether Democrats, and tiebreaker...