Updated 12:46 p.m. | The House voted 231-199 Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour incrementally over six years, but the Democratic effort was almost derailed by divisions between progressives and moderates.

Progressives on Wednesday had issued a last-minute warning to their moderate colleagues not to help Republicans make any last-minute changes to the bill through the procedural maneuver known as a motion to recommit, or MTR. If moderate Democrats helped the GOP add what the progressives considered poison pill language to the measure, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus were prepared to vote against it, the group’s co-chairs, Reps. Mark Pocan and Pramila Jayapal, said.

[Tension between Democratic factions spills into minimum wage debate]

The MTR would have added language to exempt small businesses with fewer than 10 employees or annual gross income of less than $1 million from implementing the $15 minimum wage.

Ultimately, Democrats defeated the MTR Republicans offered, 210-218, which cleared the way for a smooth but partisan final passage.