I think you're right. There's more to this than people here are mentioning. At least with the minimum wage issue. I have to look into what's happened around m4a.

With the $15 wage, obviously Sinema and Manchin acted as spoilers. On top of this, there was increasing pressure not to do it. For the sake of small business owners who were already a long time into a financial squeeze with COVID-19. So it looks like they gave it a chance without too much force behind it.

Instead, Dems seem to be testing out the usage of a modified earned income tax credit (EITC). It's not perfect but it's something. Now what's interesting is that it's active in 29/50 states for the 2021 tax year. So next tax season might have those without it wondering why their reps pushed against it.