Every single Democrat in the Senate is working together to get their $700 billion climate, tax, and health care measure through the chamber's tough rules and prevent a filibuster. There is still some uncertainty about Kyrsten Sinema.
The Democratic senator from Arizona has yet to weigh in on the bill, and her spokesman says she won't have anything to say until she reads the text and sees how the Senate parliamentarian rules on it. Her timescale for making a decision is currently unknown, despite the fact that the package is expected to arrive on the floor as early as the middle of next week.
Sinema has collaborated with fellow Democrats in the past to bring down the price of prescription drugs, and she has stated her support for addressing climate change in a party-line measure. The elimination of the carried interest loophole, which now allows certain financial corporations to pay lower tax rates on earnings, is one item in the plan that she has resisted.
Most members of the caucus were caught off guard by the agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), revealed on Wednesday. The 50 Democrats in the Senate, including Kyrsten Sinema, are still expected to join the party.
However, one source claims that Sinema was "frustrated" at not being kept in the loop, while another claims that she was "completely astonished." Additionally, Republicans view her as their best option for thwarting the agreement.
“She was not consulted,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who worked with Sinema last month to pass a bipartisan gun safety bill and attacked Manchin repeatedly over the previous 24 hours. By contrast, he remarked, “I know I can trust her when she tells me something. People around here seem to lie about everything, and I'm starting to think I can't trust anything they say me.
On Thursday morning, Democrats held a caucus meeting behind closed doors to examine the historic agreement that was announced the previous night. Schumer bragged about the deal and pushed his caucus to do everything they could to approve the package before Congress leaves for its traditional summer holiday.
Sinema did not attend the meeting. And Schumer consistently refuses to comment on her prospective vote. “You saw what she said. So I say, no remark. I’m not going to talk about Sinema, period.”
Manchin, however, told reporters he had not spoken to her but said he hoped “she would be receptive.” He went on to say that he is "adamant" that the carried interest loophole be shut.
During talks last year on Democrats’ party-line agenda, Sinema secured a consensus with the White House on a menu of income alternatives to pay it. In March, she noted that a prospective deal with Manchin “already includes enough tax reform possibilities to pay for it.”
Every senator, including me, wanted something in this package that isn't in it, so "there are a few boulders in the river in front of us," as Senator Chris Coons put it (D-Del.). The rest of the way through will be quite the adventure. However, I have faith that we will succeed.
Some people believe that Sinema cannot possibly vote against the agreement. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) stated “her state is going to need her on this” and she “politically doesn’t have a choice.”
Aside from the whip count, getting the plan through the Senate before next week without the support of even a single Republican is going to be challenging. Behind the scenes, Democratic lawmakers are cleaning up the plan to make sure it follows the unique budget requirements that will help them avoid a filibuster. But that struggle might chew up key time over the next week — and result in the independent Senate rules referee striking out sections of the legislation.
And all that might play out in real time, with Democrats compelled to litigate sections of their signature party-line plan against Republican attacks as it’s being considered on the floor. Another option is the so-called vote-a-rama binge, in which any senator, including Sinema, can try to amend the bill without any limits.
In a warning that Republicans will put up a serious fight against the package, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats have crafted “an incredible abomination, and we’re going to be fairly actively in opposition.”
On Thursday, Schumer hinted that the Democrats will try to amend the party-line measure to include additional elements, such as a plan to lower the cost of insulin. Republicans think such efforts may run afoul of Senate budget rules.
Senate workers from both parties are currently deep in confidential negotiations with the chamber's rules arbiter (also known as the parliamentarian) to check the drug pricing elements of the measure against the budget rules. As word of the pact between Schumer and Manchin spread, their staffs scrambled to determine which parts of the emerging package had not yet been subjected to extensive procedural examination behind closed doors.
On Thursday, Manchin conducted a victory lap of sorts after disclosing his compromise with Schumer, signaling the beginning of the high-stakes rules drama.
“I just felt there was an opportunity here to really give us an energy policy with security that we need for our nation but also driving down the high price of gasoline,” the West Virginia centrist told reporters of the proposal he pushed to rename the “Inflation Reduction Act” — a pointed messaging turn as signs of a recession began appearing Thursday.
In addition to the cleaning by the parliamentarian, the bill will need to be supported by all 50 members of the Democrat caucus in order to succeed. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) tested positive for Covid on Thursday, highlighting how difficult that will be to do; the caucus hasn't had all 50 members voting since the beginning of the month.
“Of course we are” worried about Covid-related absenteeism, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass). (D-Mass.). This morning, roughly 45 people gathered in a space with a capacity of hundreds. We sat spread out and donned our masks. Aside from that, nearly everything has shifted to the web.
Many of their colleagues were caught off guard on Wednesday when Senators Manchin and Schumer announced a plan that would offer three years of Affordable Care Act subsidies, reform the tax system, and include $369 billion in investment on energy and climate change.
The duo obtained final fiscal grades for their developing agreement from the Joint Committee on Taxation late Tuesday night, according to a Democrat familiar with the pact. Staff gathered the next morning, and by early afternoon Schumer and Manchin reassembled over Zoom and had a handshake accord.
Manchin denied that he and Schumer delayed to announce their agreement until after certain Senate Republicans endorsed bipartisan legislation to bolster U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. He also highlighted that President Joe Biden was not involved in the forging of the deal, warning “it could have completely gone sideways” with the White House’s involvement.
Manchin hinted to compromises environmental supporters and other Democrats will likely have to take to let the package come to fulfillment, such as energy project permitting that he got a promised vote on. He claimed the measure will secure a “robust, clean fossil energy industry.”
Summing up the give and take concerning his colleague’s fossil-fuel proposals, Schumer said: “Senator Manchin wanted certain things in the measure that the vast majority in our caucus didn’t want. But we had a North Star: 40 percent reduction in carbon.”
