the source used in preparing the news: https://newrepublic.com
Build Back Better Act is no more; the Inflation Reduction Act shall reign supreme
Wednesday’s announcement of a new deal to reduce the deficit and make investments in health care, the environment, and other areas caught everyone off guard, including many members of their own party. The announcement was made by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
The Build Back Better Act, a significant social spending, environmental protection, and tax reform measure proposed by President Joe Biden, was previously whittled down by Manchin before being scrapped. However, the agreement reached on Wednesday has given Democrats new confidence that they would be able to achieve legislation before the November elections that addresses some of their top concerns.
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Despite Manchin emphatically referring to the Build Back Better Act as “dead” in a statement on Wednesday, the Inflation Reduction Act is a more condensed version of the Build Back Better Act, raising $740 billion and spending $433 billion on provisions related to the environment, energy, and Obamacare as opposed to the earlier bill’s roughly $3 trillion price tag. However, Democrats continue to celebrate the law’s emphasis on reducing the deficit, extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, allowing Medicare to bargain for lower prescription drug costs, increasing domestic energy output, and combating climate change. Additionally, the plan would abolish the carried interest loophole and impose a 15 percent minimum tax on large businesses, two progressive priority supported by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who applauded its inclusion to reporters on Tuesday.
Manchin said on Wednesday that he had seen a chance to address inflation and energy security that motivated him to keep the discussions going despite his opposition to earlier incarnations of the plan. Manchin, who is presently in quarantine with a case of Covid-19, told reporters in a news conference on Thursday morning: “All of you might be startled, but there shouldn’t be any surprise, because I’ve never walked away from anything in my life.
However, despite Manchin’s assertions, the news on Capitol Hill was met with more than a little astonishment. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who is supposed to be in charge of tallying votes, told reporters that the arrangement was “unknown to me” when he learned of it on Wednesday.
“Clearly, there’s a bit of whiplash going on in Congress right now, that we thought it was going to fail, and now it’s popping,” Senator Cory Booker told The New Republic after a caucus meeting on Thursday morning.
What is not included in the law is just as noteworthy as what is. The enhanced child tax credit, which in December helped 3.7 million kids escape poverty, is not being extended. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a national paid leave program. There are also no child care options, despite growing expenses, and no paid parental or medical leave. Nothing is spoken about community colleges that are free, universal prekindergarten, or affordable housing.
Following this agreement, the predominant attitude among Democrats seems to be acceptance, with varied degrees of excitement. “We’ve reached a stage where the items in it represent constructive advancements. Because of what’s missing, it’s difficult to vote against something, according to Representative Dan Kildee.
Don Beyer, a representative who has long supported the corporate minimum tax, seemed to encapsulate most of the Democratic perspective on the arrangement when he said, “If Joe Manchin’s behind it, that’s enough.”
“There’s a lot of really good stuff in there. I think it’s big progress. Obviously, there’s things that we didn’t get in there,” said Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “But I think the most important thing is to get this thing done as quickly as possible.”
Representative Jamaal Bowman, another progressive, told reporters on Thursday that he was “very disappointed and actually pretty angry that the childcare provisions were taken out.” But he was circumspect about most Democrats being left out of the final negotiating process. “They’re senators, you know, one is the Senate majority leader and one has been a gatekeeper of so many policies throughout this term, and that’s the power of the Senate,” he said. Representative Raul Grijalva agreed: “This occurring was surprising, and lacking in other input, but it’s not by any stretch of the imagination anything new.”
“I’m not going to talk about what’s not in it, because those stories can go on and on and on,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, who has made the expanded child tax credit a personal priority for years. “I will always fight for the child tax credit, and we’re going to make it happen.” (Brown noted that the credit was opposed by all Republicans, although it was crucially also opposed by Manchin.)
There will also be plenty of opportunities for Democrats to attempt to add amendments to the bill. To avoid a filibuster, the legislation must pass through reconciliation, which allows certain bills to pass with a simple majority. Both Democrats and Republicans can look forward to the “vote-a-rama,” a feature of the reconciliation process in which senators take back-to-back votes on amendments for hours at a time. Kaine, who recently introduced a child care proposal along with Senator Patty Murray with the hopes of getting it included in the reconciliation bill, noted to reporters that there would be an amendment process during which he could try to get child care included.
“I would say, it’s not everything that I wanted, but it’s more than I expected,” Kaine said. He pointed to a provision in the deal that would permanently extend an excise tax which funds a program to aid disabled coal miners—a priority both of his and of Manchin’s—saying that he was pleasantly surprised by its inclusion.
Manchin told reporters that he had not spoken to Sinema about the legislation, but “would hope she would be receptive.” “We didn’t raise taxes, so she should be happy with that,” he said. He also said he was unwilling to drop taxation on carried interest, which Sinema has previously opposed.
Some Democrats from high-income states had threatened not to support a reconciliation package unless it lifted a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction—something which Manchin opposes. But in the House, at least, the lack of change to the SALT deduction may not be a dealbreaker.
But Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey gave a more ambiguous response when asked how the lack of a SALT deduction change would affect his vote. “I don’t make decisions like that, gentlemen, ladies. I look at the totality of it,” he told reporters. “Anybody can be Joe Manchin. I can be Joe Manchin right now.”
the source used in preparing the news: https://newrepublic.com
