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Scott Vetoes Minimum Wage Bill, Setting Up Another Possible Override Vote B Y K EV IN M C C A LLU M
Gov. Phil Scott vetoed an increase of Vermont’s minimum wage, setting up another possible override fight in the legislature. The governor had until midnight Monday to take action on S.23, which calls for hiking the state’s minimum wage from $10.96 per hour to $12.55 by 2022. He released a statement at 8:30 p.m. announcing the veto, his second in as many weeks. Gov. Phil Scott
KEVIN MCCALLUM
POLITICS
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Jane O’Meara Sanders outside a polling place in Manchester, N.H.
Berning It Up
Sanders wins New Hampshire, solidifying his status as front-runner BY PAUL HEINTZ
N
ew Hampshire, it seems, is still feelin’ the Bern. Four years after he first won the Granite State, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) again claimed the first-in-thenation presidential primary, cementing his status as the front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nomination. As he emerged onstage late Tuesday at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, Sanders pumped his fist in the air and clapped his hands. “Thank you! Thank you!” he said. “Let me take this opportunity to thank the people of New Hampshire for a great victory tonight.” After congratulating his rivals, Sanders vowed to carry his campaign to the general election and to remove President Donald Trump from the White House. “We are going to unite together and defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” he said. “And the reason I believe we are
going to win is that we have an unprecedented grassroots movement from coast to coast of millions of people.” Trump wasn’t the only opponent on his mind. In a thinly veiled reference to several fellow Democrats, Sanders said that “at this point in the campaign, we are
WE ARE GOING TO UNITE TOGETHER
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who moved toward the front of the pack after a strong debate performance last Friday night. With 94 percent of the vote counted, she was holding on to 19.7 percent of the vote. Two early front-runners, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former vice president Joe Biden, found themselves trailing the competition, with 9.3 and 8.4 percent, respectively. Clearly anticipating a rout in New Hampshire, Biden fled the state for South Carolina before the polls closed on Tuesday night. Hours later, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) dropped out of the race. Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick was reportedly planning to do the same on Wednesday. Though Sanders’ margin of victory was far slimmer than his 60 to 38 percent showing against former secretary of state
AND DEFEAT THE MOST DANGEROUS PRESIDENT IN THE MODERN HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY.
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SEVEN DAYS FEBRUARY 12-19, 2020
SEN. BE R NIE S AND E R S
taking on billionaires and we are taking on candidates funded by billionaires.” As Seven Days went to press Tuesday night, Sanders was leading the field with 26 percent of the vote. Former mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., who tied Sanders in the delegate count at last week’s Iowa caucuses, was on track to place a close second with 24.4 percent. Rounding out the top three was Sen.
BERNING IT UP
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The boost would have been more modest than the $15 minimum wage that many lawmakers had sought to have in place by 2024. But it still proved too much for the Republican governor, who said it would raise prices, harm economic growth and disproportionately affect rural areas. “I believe this legislation would end up hurting the very people it aims to help,” Scott said. Seeking to address concerns about the impact on rural parts of the state, House and Senate lawmakers struck a compromise last month that limited the increases to two years and tied future increases to inflation. “Today Governor Scott prevented 40,000 Vermonters who earn less than $12.55 an hour from getting a muchneeded raise,” Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) said in a written statement. “For those working full-time at the current minimum wage, the vast majority of whom are over the age of 22, the Governor’s veto just wiped out nearly $5,000 of income.” Attention will now turn to whether lawmakers can override the veto. A coalition of Democrats and Progressives last week failed to override his veto of a paid family and medical leave bill, falling short by one vote — an embarrassing miscalculation and crushing defeat for Democrats’ signature legislation. Contact: kevin@sevendaysvt.com Disclosure: Tim Ashe is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. Find our conflict-of-interest policy here: sevendaysvt.com/disclosure.