UPDATE: Democrats’ social spending and tax bill passed by a 51-50 vote Sunday after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the decisive vote to break a 50-50 deadlock and the package to the House. [bold, links added]
“I am confident the inflation Reduction Act will endure is one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
The $740 billion bill would raise taxes on corporations and all-income brackets, fund green-energy boondoggles, lower prescription drug costs, and reduce the deficit.
–End Update–
After 24 consecutive hours in session, the senate pauses the vote-a-rama.
In the meantime, Manchin responded to Trump’s comments saying he will campaign against the senator in 2024 due to his work on the Democrats’ social spending bill.
Manchin said that the former President may actually help him with his election.
“He did it in 2018 and it helped me so I got elected then, so maybe he’ll help me again,” Manchin told Fox News Digital.
Before the break, all 50 Senate Democrats, and Independents who caucus with them, rejected an amendment that would federally define pregnancy as a condition unique to biological females only.
All 50 Republicans voted in favor of the measure.
Sen. Marc Rubio (R-Fla) introduced the amendment during the marathon voting session.
“The only people capable of being pregnant are biological females, and therefore I think federal pregnancy programs should be limited to biological females, and that’s what this would do,” Rubio said while introducing his measure.
The Senate is in full swing since beginning the vote-a-rama on the “Inflation Reduction Act” that started around 11 p.m. Saturday.
Senators from bother sides of the aisle are working around the clock to vote on amendments to Democrats’ climate, tax, and health bill.
The process was initially supposed to last 12 to 14 hours, however, as of early Sunday morning, several more hours of voting were expected to last.
One of the first amendments to fail was one proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). It was rejected five times, stripping benefits for fossil fuels from Democrats’ social spending and tax bill. The vote was 99-1.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called Sander’s amendment “radical.”
“In a night, a day — whatever we’ve been doing, night has turned into day — of extremes, this is the most extreme idea yet. And that’s saying a lot… Sen. Sanders wants to destroy fossil fuel exploration [when] you’ve got to get a mortgage on your house to fill up your car,” Graham said.
The fossil fuel amendment was key to securing the support of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va). With the possibility of it being stripped, the bill might not pass.
Therefore, several Democrats said they would vote against all amendments, despite some they are in favor of.
Meanwhile, Democrats voted in favor of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) amendment to ban President Joe Biden from selling oil to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
It ultimately came down to three Senate Democrats to make the final vote, leaving the amendment to need 60 total votes, which it did not pass.
Additionally, the GOP blocked an amendment that would cap the monthly price of insulin at $35 on terms that it does not conform with the Senate’s budget reconciliation rules.
Democrats were warned that the provision, that was left in the bill despite warnings did not comply with the rules for the process they’re using to pass the legislation.
Graham said that it violated the rules of reconciliation.
However, the vote 57 to 43 vote failed because it did not have the 60 votes needed to pass, despite having seven Republican votes and all Democrats on board.
Read more at Townhall
The “Inflation Reduction Act” will expand the IRS to be the larger than the boarder patrol, FBI, and Pentagon combined. The hope is for dramatically more audits thinking this will squeeze more money out of the tax payers. In addition, it is unsettling that the IRS just purchased $750,000 of ammunition.
Instead of focusing on enforcement, why not apply a reasonable amount of taxpayer money & upgrade & automate your tax return processing? The technology in many government agencies is DECADES old. If you modernized your technology, you’d probably increase your efficiency enough to pay for the upgrades & provide better precision to focus any needed auditing. Unfortunately, looks like our government has the WRONG TOOLS for the needed application…
Presidential candidate Biden promised he would not raise taxes on incomes below $400,000. That promise is broken. To be accurate the $740 billion bill does not raise taxes on all income brackets. It raises taxes on incomes less than $10,000 and more than $30,000.
The Tax & Spend Democ-Rats with the keys to the Money-Bin and a long long list of Pork Projects
COLLASAL waste of taxpayer money as far as “green energy.” I’m sure the CCP is ELATED! Energy markets will continue to be distorted and innovation in needed areas (i.e. modular nuclear & fusion) will “lag” in the international arena. Poor allocation of resources. Staying “fixated” on wind & solar for electricity generation & insisting on EV development rather than trusting consumer choice I’m afraid will not prove fruitful in the long term. This is what happens when ideology clouds reason & sound judgment. Any chance at a coherent national energy strategy & attendant policies just took a detour. Too bad. In tennis, this is what you’d refer to as an “unforced error”…