As Democrats scramble to clinch a deal on their tax and climate package, a last-minute demand is coming from key vote Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona: $5 billion to help the Southwest deal with its multi-year drought.
Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, confirmed to CNN that Sinema is seeking $5 billion worth of drought resilience funding. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, said he's "aware of the request."
"I'm looking forward to details, I do welcome the additional resources for drought resilience," Padilla told CNN.
A senior Democratic source told CNN they believe Democratic leaders will accommodate Sinema's concerns, as well as her request to drop a $14 billion carried interest tax provision from the bill.
Assuming this is true, does the deal fall apart as other senators in other parts of the country demand similar funding? Or does Manchin back out over dropping the carried interest tax provision? Stay tuned for the next episode of "As the Democrats Turn."
(To be clear, I certainly support help with drought resilience.)
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
N.E. Brigand wrote: ↑Tue Mar 16, 2021 9:21 pm
I doubt anything will come of this:
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) suggested in a recent letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland that the FBI’s background investigation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was "perhaps fake." ...
Whitehouse also suggested in the letter that FBI Director Christopher Wray had refused to answer Congressional inquiries and that many questions from a July 2019 oversight hearing "remain unanswered."
"Such stonewalling does not inspire confidence in the integrity of the investigation," he wrote.
But it would be nice to get to the bottom of this. Kavanaugh's outright refusal to answer simple questions like who paid for your house? was galling.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to a Senate committee today, as he periodically does. I haven't seen footage of the testimony, but according to Senator Whitehouse, Wray confirmed that "Kavanaugh tips from tip line were sent to Trump White House without investigation; and Trump White House directed what witnesses FBI would interview."
As Democrats scramble to clinch a deal on their tax and climate package, a last-minute demand is coming from key vote Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona: $5 billion to help the Southwest deal with its multi-year drought.
Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, confirmed to CNN that Sinema is seeking $5 billion worth of drought resilience funding. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, said he's "aware of the request."
"I'm looking forward to details, I do welcome the additional resources for drought resilience," Padilla told CNN.
A senior Democratic source told CNN they believe Democratic leaders will accommodate Sinema's concerns, as well as her request to drop a $14 billion carried interest tax provision from the bill.
Assuming this is true, does the deal fall apart as other senators in other parts of the country demand similar funding? Or does Manchin back out over dropping the carried interest tax provision? Stay tuned for the next episode of "As the Democrats Turn."
(To be clear, I certainly support help with drought resilience.)
A deal has been reached with Kyrsten Sinema. The carried-interest tax provision will be removed. I rather like the suggestion that Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer only included it in their deal in the first place so that there would be a relatively easy concession to make to Sinema.
Good news! Of course, there is still a question as to whether the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, will approve the bill for budget reconciliation.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
The US economy added 528,000 jobs in July, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, far surpassing economists' expectations.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, after holding at 3.6% for four straight months.
Friday's employment snapshot marks the 19th consecutive month of job growth.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Voronwë the Faithful wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 3:48 am
Good news! Of course, there is still a question as to whether the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, will approve the bill for budget reconciliation.
She is requiring removal of one key provision that imposes penalties on drugmakers for boosting prices beyond inflation, but otherwise has largely left the bill intact.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
I'm 'watching' the vote on CSPAN to open debate on the bill. It is currently 48 yes and 46 no. Not sure who hasn't voted yet, or why it takes so freaking long.
ETA: Feinstein was 49. Don't know who the last holdout is, though I certainly have a guess.
ETAA: Now it says 50. I guess I missed it.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
A Times investigation revealed a coordinated effort by state treasurers to use government muscle and public funds to punish companies trying to reduce greenhouse gases.
I find this so discouraging. I can quote the entire article if anyone doesn't have access & wants to read it.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Just saw that. Apparently they worked out a last minute deal
To avoid a last-minute collapse of the bill on Sunday, Democrats created a plan to win over Sinema, who was concerned over the 15% corporate minimum tax's impact on subsidiaries owned by private equity. Senate Democrats accepted a narrower tax proposal, but instead of paying for it through a change to the state and local tax deduction, which would've drawn opposition from some House Democrats, they instead extended the limitation on the amount of losses that businesses can deduct for another two years.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
And here's one more accomplishment of the Biden administration, from last week, and how it's being portrayed on one cable news channel:
I actually don't remember anyone among the mainstream media or Democratic politicians complaining when the U.S. killed Baghdadi during the Trump administration.
An organization called United for Clean Power has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent weeks trying to convince progressives to block the big Manchin-Schumer bill that just passed the Senate, supposedly on the grounds that it doesn't go far enough to address global warming. Now they're targeting House efforts. The group has also supported at least one Green Party candidate in the past. But the group is actually some sort of right-wing front, although not all details are clear. Despite having some money to throw around, the organization has been rather careless in its efforts. For example, they're now encouraging progressives to "Demand true environmental justice from your Democrat colleagues or block the Reconciliation bill." Any actual progressive should recognize the use of "Democrat" as an adjective as a Republican affectation.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Not to my knowledge. Early indications are that both progressives and centrists in the House are on board. (The latter might have voted against the bill due to Sinema's amendment if not for the last-minute deal that cleaned that up.)
That worries me, actually, because this bill hasn't been enacted and if the measures have any impact at all on inflation the effects won't be seen for months. In other words, if people are actually expecting an overnight improvement, they're going to be disappointed.
Voronwë the Faithful wrote: ↑Mon Aug 08, 2022 6:16 pmHave any progressives come out against the bill?
This is currently the second-most prominent headline on the US version of The Guardian's homepage. I haven't attempted to verify the progressive bona fides of the people and groups quoted, though.
The landmark climate legislation passed by the Senate after months of wrangling and weakening by fossil-fuel friendly Democrats will lead to more harm than good, according to frontline community groups who are calling on Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency.
[...] the bill makes a slew of concessions to the fossil fuel industry, including mandating drilling and pipeline deals that will harm communities from Alaska to Appalachia and the Gulf coast and tie the US to planet-heating energy projects for decades to come.
I meant to respond to this earlier, but most if not all of the groups cited in that article are genuine, if rather radical, progressive groups. I question their conclusion that the bill will do more harm than good, but share some of the concerns that they express.
In any event, the House passed the bill today on a straight party-line vote (four Republicans didn't show up to vote) and so it will go to President Biden for his signature. This is a big deal, but it is indication of how much a big deal the other story today is that the passing of the IRA has been so over-shadowed.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
