Schumer Suffers Crushing Defeat on Filibuster, as Manchin and Sinema Stand Firm
By Nick Arama | Jan 19, 2022 11:17 PM ET



AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

I’m not sure what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) thought he was going to get by pushing a vote on the Democratic effort to federalize elections (which they call ‘voting rights’) and on the filibuster.


Schumer knew that he was likely to get a “no” on the filibuster from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). They’ve only been holding fast on the subject for months. Both also were very firm on the subject in speeches — Sinema earlier in the week and Manchin earlier on Wednesday. It wasn’t happening, they said.

But Schumer decided to commit electoral suicide anyway, and he got it tonight.

Here’s the vote. https://twitter.com/cspan/status/14...ster-as-manchin-and-sinema-stand-firm-n509447


Manchin and Sinema voted with the Republicans to keep the filibuster.

Here are some of the political reactions to the news. https://twitter.com/SuzYoungblood/s...ster-as-manchin-and-sinema-stand-firm-n509447

Schumer doesn’t seem to get that he just lost, and that’s it.

https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/stat...ster-as-manchin-and-sinema-stand-firm-n509447

Joe Biden was similarly in fantasy land. https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/14...ster-as-manchin-and-sinema-stand-firm-n509447
Perhaps the angriest person was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). This is lunacy on parade. Throw away your principles to get what we want, Sanders essentially railed. Even though everyone has the right to vote and the Democrats’ bills aren’t about that at all. https://twitter.com/thehill/status/...ster-as-manchin-and-sinema-stand-firm-n509447

It’s a very good day when this kind of mania doesn’t prevail, and sanity prevails. Democrats don’t even get how this will help them because they are going to lose the Senate and be in the minority after the November election. Then you will see them flip one more time, talking about the importance of preserving the filibuster.

 

I'm confused...why do the hack fuck have the opinion that by eliminating the filibuster would have gotten the federal takeover of the election passed?...when Sen Manchin and Sen Sinema were robustly against voting in favor of the federal takeover of the U.S. election process?

 

Watch.
Just watch.
After the midterms we're gonna see despicables take the stand that the Filibuster is the only thing standing between Democracy and dictatorship.

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

No matter. Let the political slaughter begin.

 

Hmp... 314 times, in 4 years, I had no idea the GOP had pushed that much legislation.

 

Companies Linked to Putin’s Pipeline Contributed to Schumer Campaign
Senate majority leader blocked sanctions on the Kremlin-backed project

Affiliates of two European companies that fund Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline contributed to the campaign of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who Republicans say has blocked sanctions on the Kremlin-backed project.

ENGIE North America and BASF Corporation each gave $2,500 to Schumer in September through their corporate political action committees, according to newly disclosed Federal Election Commission records. ENGIE North America's parent company and a BASF subsidiary are part of a consortium of five companies that finance Nord Stream 2, which will transport natural gas from Russia to Germany. While President Joe Biden has called the pipeline a geopolitical threat to Europe that helps Russian president Vladimir Putin, last year he waived sanctions on the project.

Republicans have pushed for legislation to enforce sanctions only to be met with resistance from Senate Democrats and the White House. Schumer for months blocked Republican requests to vote on a sanctions bill. He approved a vote on sanctions legislation proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) earlier this month in exchange for Cruz lifting holds on several State Department nominees. The bill received bipartisan support by a 55-44 vote, but Senate Democrats used filibuster rules to block its passage. Democrats say they want to use sanctions against the pipeline as a last resort should Russia invade Ukraine.

The contributions to Schumer came amid an aggressive lobbying effort in Washington over sanctions on the 764-mile pipeline. The five European companies that back Nord Stream 2—Wintershall, ENGIE, Uniper, Shell, and OMV—have paid millions of dollars to lobbying firms to block sanctions.

Nord Stream 2 AG, the Swiss company that is building the pipeline, lobbies Congress through Democratic donor Vincent Roberti. Roberti gave maximum donations of $5,800 to Schumer and other Senate Democrats last year, Axios reported. Thomas McLarty, the founder of McLarty Inbound, a firm that lobbies for the five European companies, in April gave $2,500 to Schumer.

ENGIE North America, a subsidiary of the French firm ENGIE, contributed to Schumer's campaign on Sept. 9. BASF, the parent company of Wintershall, donated to Schumer on Sept. 22. ENGIE also contributed to Schumer's campaign in 2020, while BASF gave to the Senate leader in 2016, according to FEC records. Each member of the European consortium loaned 1 billion euros to Nord Stream 2 AG in 2017. Nord Stream 2 AG is controlled by Russian state oil company Gazprom. Nord Stream 2 AG's chief executive officer, Matthias Warnig, is a Putin ally and former officer of the East German secret police.

 

We get the government we deserve.
These vermin will keep robbing us until we throw their collective asses out.

 

Supreme Court throws out Kevin McCarthy's lawsuit against Nancy Pelosi over Covid-19 voting rules

David Edwards
January 24, 2022



(Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)


The Supreme Court of the United States on Monday rejected a lawsuit that House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) brought against Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

McCarthy and House Republicans sued Pelosi last year over a proxy voting system that was put in place due to Covid-19.

The court said that the lawsuit was rejected because it is an internal legislative matter that can’t be challenged in court.

Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY), have used the proxy voting system.

"If their changes are acceptable, what stops the majority from creating a 'House Rule' that stipulates the minority party’s votes only count for half of the majority party’s?" McCarthy said earlier this year. "This is not the representative democracy our Founders envisioned or what our Constitution allows. It is tyranny of the majority."

Billy House
@HouseInSession
From Bloomberg's @GregStohr U.S. Supreme Court rejected House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s challenge to the chamber’s use of proxy voting, sealing a legal victory for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a system put in place during the early months of the pandemic. 1/2
7:42 AM · Jan 24, 2022

https://www.rawstory.com/kevin-mccarthy-proxy-voting-lawsuit/

 

Pelosi says she will run for reelection in 2022



Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday that she will run for reelection in 2022, quelling speculation for now that this year may be her last in Congress.

Pelosi, who was first elected to the House in a 1987 special election, said the U.S. democracy is “at risk,” which makes the upcoming election “crucial.”

“While we've made progress, much more needs to be done to improve people's lives. Our democracy is at risk because of assaults on the truth, the assault on the U.S. Capitol and the state-by-state assault on voting rights. This election is crucial. Nothing less is at stake than our democracy,” Pelosi said in an announcement video posted to Twitter

“But, as we say, we don't agonize; we organize. And that is why I am running for reelection to Congress and respectfully seek your support. I would be greatly honored by it and grateful for it,” she added.

Pelosi's announcement that she will run for reelection comes despite her previous pledge in 2018 that this term would be her last as Speaker after leading House Democrats for the last 19 years.

With Democrats facing an uphill battle to keep their House majority after this year's midterm elections, speculation has grown that House Democrats will replace their old guard of leadership. Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) are all in their 80s.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), the House Democratic Caucus chairman, is viewed internally as the favorite to succeed Pelosi as the leader of House Democrats.

“If we’re in the minority,” one lawmaker told The Hill recently, “I can’t imagine her wanting to do it.”

Republicans need to flip only five seats to win the House majority in November's midterm elections.

Back in October, Pelosi was mum when asked if she would run for reelection in 2022.

“I do want to ask about your own future in Congress. Are you going to run for reelection?” CNN's Jake Tapper asked in an interview.

“Oh, you think I’m going to make an announcement right here and now?” Pelosi responded.

Even if Pelosi ultimately does not remain in Congress next year, announcing now that she is officially running for reelection ensures that she doesn't have a lame-duck status.

• Sen. Tim Scott rakes in nearly $7 million in fourth quarter
• Cooper becomes latest House Democrat to not seek reelection

Doing otherwise could undermine her fundraising prowess — Pelosi has raised more than $1 billion for Democrats over the past two decades — while the party is trying to raise as much money as possible during this year's campaign cycle.


Sponsored Content
Misunderstood: The Huawei Story
By Huawei
Pelosi's decision to officially run for reelection this year also postpones any potentially messy Democratic leadership races until after the elections should the party end up replacing its top leaders.

Updated 6:02 p.m.



https://thehill.com/homenews/house/591339-pelosi-says-she-will-run-for-reelection-in-2022

 

Did shooter not say last year nancy antoinette wouldn't retire like she said she would?
Power corrupts.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

Well that would have to be a lie. Speaker Nancy Pelosi never said any such thing.

Breaking|Jun 2, 2021,12:51pm EDT|12,463 views

‘What’s That?’ Pelosi Balks At Concept Of ‘Retirement’ As 2022 Questions Swirl



Topline
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an interview for Forbes’ new 50 over 50 list, suggested she doesn’t see “retirement” in her near future as questions swirl about whether she will step down after the 2022 elections.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrew...ment-as-2022-questions-swirl/?sh=65c321e36326

 

TV host to challenge Chuck Schumer’s Senate seat

https://www.oann.com/tv-host-to-challenge-chuck-schumers-senate-seat/

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:19 AM PT – Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Political commentator Joe Pinion announced he’s challenging incumbent Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democrat majority leader from New York, who is seeking a fifth term. One America’s Caitlin Sinclair has more.

 

As opposed to treasonous conservative/Republicans saying Putin isn't your enemy. Your fellow Americans are your enemy. And this one makes me truly sick. The Ukrainian people have never done anything to anyone and do not deserve to be slaughtered and imprisoned by Putin.

Only because Putin is a hero to treasonous conservative/Republicans because just like them Putin is an enemy of democracy.

Pelosi calls Putin a 'tyrant,' calls developments 'stunning'

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday during her weekly press briefing called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "tyrant" and said it was "stunning" to see him enter Ukraine.

"It's stunning to see, in this day and age, a tyrant roll into a country. This is the same tyrant who attacked our democracy in 2016," Pelosi said during the briefing.

"This is the same tyrant who is opposed to democracy and wants to trivialize it, to downgrade it, in the eyes of the Russian people," she added.

"I think that one thing that we've all agreed upon is an attack on Ukraine by the Russians is an attack on democracy," she also said.

Pelosi's remarks come after Putin on Monday recognized two separatist regions of Ukraine as independent, calling them the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. The Russian president also said that he would send supposed “peacekeeping” forces to those regions.

Since then, the U.S., along with other countries including the United Kingdom, European Union, Canada and others, have imposed sanctions on Russia, a move of which the Kremlin said the U.S. will feel the "consequences."


“There is no doubt that the sanctions introduced against us will hit global financial and energy markets. The United States will not be left out, with its ordinary citizens feeling the consequences of the price increase in full,” Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday night.

But Pelosi, who has faced arguments from some critics that President Biden's sanctions do not go far enough, called the sanctions "appropriate," while remaining open to the possibility that the president could expand them later, a consideration Biden has also acknowledged.

“If Russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further as with sanctions,” Biden said when he announced the plans.


https://thehill.com/homenews/house/595499-pelosi-calls-putin-a-tyrant-calls-developments-stunning

 

You just gotta admire how stumbler can take anything and turn it around to attack deplorables.

Which deplorables have said "Putin isn't your enemy"?
And this, stumbler, is a fucking lie;

"Putin is a hero to treasonous conservative/Republicans because just like them Putin is an enemy of democracy."
​

Lets go stumbler

 

A Tsunami of Cope Approaches After Criminal Case Against Donald Trump Implodes
By Bonchie | Feb 23, 2022 4:15 PM ET



AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

In a surprise move, the top prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against Donald Trump in New York have suddenly resigned. That came after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg expressed doubt about the ability of the case to move forward. Of note is that Bragg himself is a far-left figure, rebuffing any claims of political favoritism toward Trump.

This comes per The New York Times, and you can just feel the distress in every word of the article.

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/...al-case-against-donald-trump-implodes-n526808



The two prosecutors leading the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into former President Donald J. Trump and his business practices abruptly resigned on Wednesday amid a monthlong pause in their presentation of evidence to a grand jury, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The stunning development comes not long after the high-stakes inquiry appeared to be gaining momentum, and throws its future into serious doubt.

The prosecutors, Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz, submitted their resignations after the new Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, indicated to them that he had doubts about moving forward with a case against Mr. Trump, the people said.

Bragg’s predecessor had accelerated the probe last fall, empaneling a grand jury and receiving much fanfare, especially from the media-sphere. Once Bragg took office, the case appeared to be moving ahead as planned, but these resignations testify to some kind of major internal shift. If Bragg was now expressing doubts about the case moving forward, that signals that he doesn’t believe the evidence is there for a conviction. Remember, prosecutors hate to pursue cases they don’t think they can win, and I don’t believe these resignations would have happened if this criminal case against Trump hadn’t imploded.


As to the prosecutors themselves, it is incredibly disturbing that they were so emotionally invested in taking down a political opponent (don’t kid yourself about their political leanings) that they chose to quit when their boss, himself left-leaning and anti-Trump, decided there wasn’t enough to go on. It appears that these prosecutors wanted to go to trial no matter what, if only to hopefully damage Trump with years of bad headlines before a probable, not guilty verdict. That kind of lawfare is disgusting, and it’s everything that’s wrong with our judicial system.

You can expect a tidal wave of cope from the left to follow this news. While there are other “probes” going on, including a farcical one in Atlanta, GA, that is going nowhere, this case in New York was supposed to be the silver bullet, as far as charging Trump criminally for something. There’s nothing left now but long-shot dreams surrounding a possible referral from the January 6th committee, and as much of a hack as AG Merrick Garland is, he’s not going to hand the former president a big win prior to the 2024 election by taking on a bad case and losing.

In the end, the walls were, in fact, not closing in, at least regarding this investigation. The left will not stop, though. They’ll keep other witch-hunts going as long as they can, and when Trump is gone from the national stage, they’ll use the same tactics against the next major Republican figure. We long ago crossed the Rubicon when it comes to having boundaries around criminalizing political opponents.

 

We're finding the answer to the question;
Is Trump squeaky clean or are his pursuers incompetent?

It appears the answer is; YES.

 

This flew under the radar but is actually a pretty big deal for the USPS.


Senate passes sweeping overhaul of USPS

• Ivana Saric

Photo: Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images
The Senate voted 79-19 on Tuesday evening to pass a sweeping $107 billion plan to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service.

Why it matters: Advocates argue that the bill will provide the beleaguered USPS with financial relief and help it modernize its operations, per the Washington Post.

• It will be the largest reform of the postal service in nearly two decades, the New York Times notes.

What's next: The bill passed with large bipartisan support and now heads to President Biden's desk to be signed.

Details: The Postal Service Reform Act, passed by the House last month, would require retired postal service employees to enroll in Medicare, develop an online dashboard with local and national delivery time data, and do away with a requirement for the USPS to fund employee retirement benefits 75 years in advance.

• The requirements to enroll workers in Medicare and not require USPS to fund retirement benefits decades ahead of time alone will save the USPS almost $50 billion over the next 10 years, CNN reports.

What they're saying: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted Tuesday night that the act's passage would "improve service for the millions who rely on the USPS for medicines, voting, essential goods, and their livelihoods."

• "It's the most significant step we’ve taken in the 21st century to strengthen the USPS," he added.

https://www.axios.com/senate-passes...sps-88a1d7f5-ee65-4a6b-b502-9afdae286c80.html

 

Wonder how much that will increase the debt.

 

House approves Ukraine aid, Russia oil ban, funds averting U.S. gov't shutdown

Reuters
March 10, 2022



By Richard Cowan and Makini Brice



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to rush $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine as it battles invading Russian forces, along with $1.5 trillion to keep U.S. government programs operating through Sept. 30 and avoid agency shutdowns this weekend.

The House approved the wide-ranging appropriations in bipartisan votes, sending the legislation to the Senate which aims to act by a midnight Friday deadline when existing U.S. government funds expire.

The aid for Ukraine is intended to help bolster its military as it battles Russian forces and provide humanitarian assistance to citizens, including an estimated 1.5 million refugees already seeking safety abroad.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that the $13.6 billion is likely to be just the tip of a much broader aid effort.

"All of us will have to do more" to help Ukraine in coming weeks or months and over the long-term to help it rebuild, Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference.

She was mainly referring to the United States and its NATO allies.

The House also passed legislation, by a vote of 414-17 to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil and other energy in response to its attack on Ukraine. Fifteen Republicans and two Democrats opposed the measure.

Passage of the bill came one day after President Joe Biden used his executive powers to impose such a ban. The House measure put lawmakers on record as firmly supporting the U.S. trade ban. It also calls for reviewing Russia's participation in some international trade programs, such as the World Trade Organization.

Lawmakers abandoned an effort to attach language revoking Russia's permanent normal trade relations status, which would have allowed the United States to raise tariffs on Russian imports above levels afforded all WTO members.


The U.S. government funding bill passed following a revolt from Pelosi's own Democrats who objected to a $15.6 billion COVID-19 aid initiative because of the way it would have parceled out money to individual states. The money was to be used for research and to stockpile vaccines for possible future spikes in COVID-19 infections.

Following hours of delay, Pelosi had the provision deleted to clear the way for quick passage of the Ukraine money and the "omnibus" $1.5 trillion in federal funding.

Democrats hope to revisit the COVID aid next week in separate legislation.

'DESPERATE HOUR'

The huge government spending bill is the first to reflect Democrats' spending priorities under President Joe Biden, following four years of the Trump administration.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro said it increases non-defense domestic spending by 6.7% over last year, the largest rise in four years.

The Ukraine aid package, DeLauro said, would "help the Ukrainian people in their most desperate hour of need."

Republicans also applauded the measure - a rare display of bipartisanship in the deeply divided Congress.

"We must get this bill to the president's desk as soon as possible to respond to these acts of aggression," said Ken Calvert, the top Republican on the defense subcommittee of the appropriations panel.

He was referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and specifically the bombing of a hospital earlier on Wednesday. Failure, he added, "would undoubtedly demonstrate weakness on a global scale."

With money for the federal government due to run out at midnight on Friday, the Democratic-controlled House also unanimously approved a separate measure to keep the government funded through Tuesday.

This was seen mainly as a housekeeping step so that congressional clerks would have enough time to process the sprawling omnibus bill following House and Senate passage. That clerical work could extend beyond the midnight Friday deadline.

Acting White House budget director Shalanda Young urged Congress to promptly approve the Ukraine aid and government funding measure and send it to Biden for signing into law.

"The bipartisan funding bill is proof that both parties can come together to deliver for the American people and advance critical national priorities," Young said in a statement.

The omnibus spending plan will boost funding for domestic priorities, including money for infrastructure passed under an earlier bipartisan measure to revamp U.S. roads, bridges and broadband internet.

The plan includes $730 billion in non-defense funding and $782 billion for the U.S. military.

Amid fears that Russia and other "bad actors" could wage cyber attacks against U.S. infrastructure, the government funding bill increases the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency budget by $568.7 million for a total of $2.6 billion for this fiscal year.

In its continuing attempt to unravel the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" immigration policy, the bill provided no additional money for immigration hearing facilities that support the program, which forced tens of thousands of migrants to wait in Mexico pending resolution of their U.S. asylum cases.

(Reporting by David Morgan, Makini Brice, Richard Cowan and Susan Heavey, additional reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Scott Malone, Doina Chiacu, Jonathan Oatis and Bernard Orr)

Read More


https://www.rawstory.com/u-s-house-...ia-oil-ban-funds-averting-u-s-gov-t-shutdown/

 

Schumer and Manchin put on a master class on how to get around treasonous conservative/America Hating/Republicans and shepherded the Inflation Reduction Act through the Senate. But it was also no cake walk for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the House because she had to gather up House progressives and get them on board even though a lot of them were still really pissed off over what all was not in the bill. But Pelosi obviously told them they needed to be happy they at least got a lot of the things they wanted and the most important thing of all was to get the Inflation Reduction Act through the house with as little fighting as possible and get it to President Biden's desk. And that they did.



House passes Democrats' climate and health care bill, sending it to Biden's desk
By Melissa Quinn

Updated on: August 12, 2022 / 7:06 PM / CBS News

Washington — Democrats in the House on Friday pushed their more than $700 billion domestic policy package across the finish line, sending to President Biden for his signature their long-negotiated plan to address drug costs, raise taxes on large corporations and combat global warming.

Passage of the proposal, now by both chambers of Congress, marks the end of a long-fought effort by Democrats to approve legislation that addresses Mr. Biden's top domestic and great economic priorities. While the package is the result of a compromise that yielded a measure more narrow than the initial sprawling social spending plan put forth by the president last year, its approval gives Democrats a crucial legislative win ahead of the November midterm elections.

Called the Inflation Reduction Act, the bill passed the House in a 220 to 207 party-line vote, days after it cleared the Senate in 51 to 50. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the evenly-divided Senate, where Democrats used a legislative process called budget reconciliation to pass the bill without needing Republican support.


The White House said Friday that Mr. Biden will sign it sometime next week. He is currently on vacation in South Carolina.

"It's a kitchen table issue," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of the legislation in a Friday morning news conference. "If you are sitting at your kitchen table and wonder how you're going to pay the bills. Your health care bills, your prescription drug bills, this bill's for you."


US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, center right, presides over a vote for H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, in the House Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. Bloomberg
While the House is on its weeklong summer recess, which stretches to mid-September, lawmakers were summoned back to Washington on Friday to vote on the plan. Many members filed letters with the House clerk to vote-by-proxy, a process that allows them to designate another member present for the proceedings to cast a vote for them.


Its passage by the House caps a string of summer achievements for the president and his party, including passage of a bipartisan gun reform and mental health bill, bipartisan legislation to spur U.S. manufacturing of semiconductor computer chips, a bipartisan plan to expand health care benefits for veterans who developed illnesses because of their exposure to toxic substances from burn pits, and the killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike.

While the spending plan approved by Congress does not include Democrats' priorities such as paid family leave and universal pre-K, it makes the largest investment by the federal government in fighting climate change — $369 billion for clean energy and climate initiatives. The package also allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, extends enhanced health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act through 2025 and imposes an annual cap of $2,000 on out-of-pocket drug costs and a monthly cap of $35 on insulin for Medicare enrollees.

The tax revenue component of the legislation includes a 15% corporate minimum tax for corporations that make more than $1 billion each year, and stricter tax enforcement and compliance by the Internal Revenue Service, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will bring in an additional $204 billion in revenue over a decade.

Democrats' legislative package will reduce federal budget deficits by $102 billion over 10 years, according to the budget office, though the estimate did not factor in new revenue from harsher tax enforcement.


The $740 billion bill falls far short of the sweeping, $3.5 trillion social spending plan, dubbed Build Back Better, that Mr. Biden proposed to Congress last year. The wide-ranging plan quickly ran into headwinds in the Senate, where Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, raised concerns about new federal spending driving inflation.

The White House engaged in months of negotiations with Manchin throughout 2021, though talks collapsed in December.

But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer forged ahead with efforts to reach a compromise on the proposal, and after negotiations derailed and again resurrected, brokered a surprise deal with Manchin late last month.

The legislation also garnered support from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a moderate Democrat from Arizona who is another crucial vote, though she had Democrats remove a provision raising taxes on "carried interest," or profits that go to executives of private equity firms. She and other western senators also pushed for $4 billion for drought relief.

The bill underwent more changes by the Senate after it was reviewed by parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to ensure compliance with the reconciliation rules, who said a piece of Democrats' drug-pricing plan that imposed penalties on drug manufacturers that raised prices beyond inflation on private insurers had to be removed. Her green-light of the rest of the legislation, though, cleared the way for the upper chamber to take it up.

Democrats said the bill will maintain Mr. Biden's campaign-trail promise not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000 per year and have argued it will help address rising consumer prices. But Republicans argued the plan will instead fuel inflation and harm job creation with its taxes on large companies, while its drug-pricing provisions will cause pharmaceutical companies to cut back on research and development.

"Senate Democrats are misreading the American people's outrage as a mandate for yet another reckless taxing and spending spree," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week. "Democrats have already robbed American families once through inflation, and now their solution is to rob American families a second time."


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inflat...esentatives-today-biden-signature-2022-08-12/