Real World Event Discussions
One more nail in America's Coffin
POSTED BY: 6IXSTRINGJACK
UPDATED: Monday, August 8, 2022 18:14
VIEWED: 1406
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Monday, August 8, 2022 8:22 AM
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The long-awaited $740 billion bill would raise taxes on corporations, tackle climate change, lower prescription drug costs and reduce the deficit.
It will do none of these things.
Not a single one.
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Monday, August 8, 2022 6:14 PM
What happened to Build Back Better...
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Senate passes sweeping tax, climate package after marathon vote; Harris breaks tie
by Alexander Bolton - 08/07/22 3:18 PM ET
Senate Democrats have passed their sweeping tax, health care and climate change legislation after a marathon night of voting, with Vice President Harris casting the decisive vote to break a 50-50 deadlock and send the package to the House.
The long-awaited $740 billion bill would raise taxes on corporations, tackle climate change, lower prescription drug costs and reduce the deficit.
But wait!
There's more!
Quote:Which?
The bill was approved on Sunday afternoon after a full night and morning in which senators worked nonstop on the consideration of amendments to the legislation. Democrats generally stuck together to defeat GOP amendments that might have scuttled the bill.
A last-second hiccup occurred when Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) backed an amendment that extended a cap on on state and local tax (SALT) deductions that was a key feature of the 2017 Trump tax cut bill. It was seen as endangering the bill because the ceiling on the deduction hurts many households in blue states and districts.
Seven Democrats ended up backing the amendment offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), but any damage was undone by the immediate passage of another amendment that replaced the SALT cap extension with a different revenue stream.
Quote:I'm not sure that I'm disenfranchised, but I'm certainly disenchanted. And I don't see a whole lot to get ecited about
As the vote on final passage took place, several Democrats offered hugs to Sinema, who had been involved in a number of negotiations over the bill in the last several days that some worried could topple the package.
Democratic senators also applauded their staff, who were seated at the back of the chamber.
Once seen as all but dead, the bill came back to life last week after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) reached a deal that narrowed the more than $3 trillion legislation and renamed it the Inflation Reduction Act.
Sinema reached a separate agreement with Schumer on Thursday, giving Democrats their 50th vote and paving the way for the party to steer the legislation through the Senate using special budget rules that prevented the GOP from killing it with a filibuster.
The House is set to reconvene at the end of the week to vote on the package. Final passage by the House would send it to the White House for President Biden’s signature less than three months before the midterm elections.
Biden and Democrats hope it sweetens their changes of holding their House and Senate majorities by exciting a disenchanted Democratic base,
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while Republicans are expected to attack the spending as unnecessary and misguided.
A vote-a-rama on the bill started just before midnight Saturday as Democrats stuck together to defeat a barrage of Republican-sponsored amendments designed to put the majority party on the spot.
One such amendment sponsored by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) would have pulled $1 million from the Affordable Care Act to maintain the Title 42 health order denying migrants seeking asylum entry into the United States.
Democrats defeated another amendment by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to strike a 16.4 cent a barrel tax on imported petroleum products and crude oil refined in the United States.
A third amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) would have barred the IRS from auditing individuals and business owners with income under $400,000.
The vote capped a long, grueling process that began more than a year ago when Senate Democrats began negotiations to enact the priorities of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.
Over the past year, many of the president’s most ambitious social spending priorities were cast aside because of the opposition of Manchin and Sinema. At two points, the negotiations collapsed entirely amid angry recriminaNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME