Hey, We’ve Got Us A Big Climate, Tax, Healthcare Bill. Thanks, Joe Manchin!
And no thanks to you, Kyrsten Sinema.
It was a damn good week for President Joe Biden. He was officially released from his COVID-19 staycation. July’s job numbers were more than double what economists had predicted, and Sunday, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which sounds dull — like doing your taxes — but is actually an ambitious healthcare, tax, and climate bill. You know it’s good because all Republicans voted against it, even faux moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote.
The clean energy package is the greatest legislative climate investment in US history. This is significant because the bill required the support of testy coal baron Joe Manchin, and while there are provisions that promote coal, oil and natural gas, the package also pushes renewable energy such as solar and wind. It’s believed the measures will reduce US carbon emissions by about 40 percent by 2030. That’s not far from Biden’s stated goal of reducing emissions within that timeframe by half.
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This is all great news, and it’s a little shocking that it happened after Manchin walked away from Build Back Better negotiations last year. An enthusiastic Sen. Brian Schatz from Hawaii tweeted after the bill passed, "We did it. We passed the biggest climate bill that any country has ever passed. It is the reason I came to the Senate. The fight goes on, but for the first time, the American government is taking action that is equal to this moment.”
“We did it. We passed the biggest climate bill that any country has ever passed. It is the reason I came to the Senate. The fight goes on, but for the first time, the American government is taking action that is equal to this moment.”
— Brian Schatz (@Brian Schatz) 1659900197
Visibly emotional and wiping away tears, Schatz told reporters, "Now I can look my kids in the eye.”
The IRA grants Medicare the power to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs and extends expiring healthcare subsidies for another three years. The deficit-reducing legislation will fund itself through new taxes — not on struggling families, despite easily disproven right-wing lies. Large corporations will endure a 15 percent minimum tax. There’s also a punishing one percent tax on stock buybacks. The bill will help the Internal Revenue Service collect on tax cheats through additional staffing, which apparently terrified Republicans. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo whined this weekend, "86,000 new IRS Agents. How many of them will be conservative?”
Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz also tried to frighten Americans with the horrifying image of an army of accountants coming for the average American. These scare tactics for a bill Joe Manchin negotiated mostly fell flat.
There was some eleventh-hour concern that the Senate’s most useless Democrat, Kyrsten Sinema, might tank the bill, but even she came along once she had assurances that the bill would provide for her true constituents. She threw a fit when she discovered that the 15 percent minimum corporate tax would apply to hedge fund managers and private equity firms. She wanted them exempted from the tax because .... well, maybe she's a bought-and-paid for corporate stooge. But her stated concern was that this would deter investment in Arizona.
Arizona cities are currently experiencing the worst drought in over a thousand years, so the IRA’s climate provisions are the best investments for Arizona. We assume Sinema’s hedge fund buddies will bail on Arizona once the entire state has the topography of Mars. Joe Manchin craps coal but he did more to advance this bill than Sinema, who finally got on board once other funding measures were found.
Sinema, who was elected as a Democrat, also killed the IRA’s tax on carried interest. Manchin was reportedly disappointed and said hedge fund managers and private equity have "enjoyed one heck of a run that they can't justify.” The carried-interest loophole was a giveaway for the wealthy that even Donald Trump proposed eliminating. Unlike Bernie Sanders with his pie-in-the-sky amendments, Sinema was fully prepared to walk if she didn’t get her way.
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle noted that the carried-interest loophole benefits practically no one in Arizona, "but there are some dudes on mega yachts on the Mediterranean toasting [Sinema] right now."
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who actually represents Arizona, came out swinging. He tweeted, “At a minimum if Sinema is such a 'smart negotiator' why didn’t she trade a a cap on insulin for working families in exchange for protecting her rich Wall Street friends? Clearer than ever that saving money for Arizonans is not her focus.”
“At a minimum if Sinema is such a “smart negotiator” why didn’t she trade a a cap on insulin for working families in exchange for protecting her rich Wall Street friends? Clearer than ever that saving money for Arizonans is not her focus.”
— Ruben Gallego (@Ruben Gallego) 1659896717
Yeah, he’s primarying her ass and he’s gonna win.
The bill now goes to the House, which is fortunately Sinema-free, so we expect that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will get everyone in line so that the IRA will land on Biden’s desk to sign.
We weren’t bullish on Manchin’s chances of winning reelection in 2024, but Republicans are clearly out for blood now, labeling the IRA the “Manchin-Schumer Tax Hike Of 2022.” Manchin might lose his seat doing something positive for the nation, while Sinema will lose hers because she sucks.
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