![]() ![]() I made sure there was no tax increases in this whatsoever.”īaier asked Manchin whether Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, who had previously stated her opposition to raising taxes, would go along with the bill. “All we did was close loopholes.” Thirty seconds later, Manchin repeated, “We did not raise taxes. “It does not raise taxes,” he told Bret Baier. On Fox News Sunday, Manchin insisted that his bill’s establishment of a 15 percent minimum tax for billion-dollar companies-up from zero percent-wasn’t really a tax increase. He knows, as Sanders does, that “spending” sounds like a waste of money, but “investment” sounds prudent and cost-effective. And to cap off his reversal, he’s adopting Sanders’ language. Now Manchin has embraced most of BBB’s climate provisions. Several weeks ago, Sanders again rebuked Manchin, this time for obstructing BBB’s plans to “invest heavily in combating global heating by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels.” Progressives always describe their favorite spending bills as “investment.” Bernie Sanders used this term last fall when he castigated Manchin, in a West Virginia newspaper op-ed, for opposing BBB’s “ investment” in affordable housing. In contrast, he argued, the Inflation Reduction Act knocked “$3.5 trillion dollars of spending down to $400 billion of investment.” On Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, and This Week, he made the same pitch: BBB was a “spending bill,” but the IRA was an “ investment bill.” It was $3.5 trillion of spending,” Manchin explained on CNN’s State of the Union. “I couldn’t get there with Build Back Better. This is a reading of the classified documents indictment against former President Trump that was… “Inflation reduction” was slapped on as a last-minute makeover, presumably to appease Manchin, since fear of inflation was his long-stated reason for having held out against BBB. The new bill is called the “ Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.” It’s a preposterous title, because none of the bill’s main provisions were designed to reduce inflation. “Build Back Better is dead, and instead we have the opportunity to make our country stronger by bringing Americans together.” “For too long, the reconciliation debate in Washington has been defined by how it can help advance Democrats political agenda called Build Back Better,” he declared. In his statement announcing the new bill, Manchin went out of his way to rebuke his party and drive a stake through BBB. He doesn’t want to look like he’s saving the Democratic agenda. But Manchin, who represents a conservative state, doesn’t want to be associated with BBB. Most Democrats liked BBB and would be happy to celebrate the passage of these elements of it. The vast majority of the new bill comes from Biden’s BBB framework. ![]() It was an eye roll-worthy display of political spin. Over the weekend, he appeared on all five Sunday morning talk shows-a rare feat often referred to as a “ full Ginsburg”-to make his case for the bill. But he isn’t just voting for it he’s selling it. With Manchin’s vote, the bill is likely to pass. Last Thursday he endorsed a revised $400 billion package that focuses on health insurance subsidies, cutting the cost of prescription drugs, and funding new energy technologies to reduce carbon emissions. After blocking President Biden’s Build Back Better plan for nearly a year-as well as subsequent, pared-down versions of the legislation-the West Virginia senator has reversed course. Joe Manchin has rescued the Democratic agenda. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |