Democrats are bracing for a grueling weekend of vote-a-rama in the hopes of finally passing their long-sought economic bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act. Republicans have vowed to force a series of tough votes in opposition of the plan. But some of lawmakers’ most painful votes could come from one of the Senate’s foremost progressive crusaders. Sen….
Author: Aris Folley
Republicans vow ‘hell’ for Democrats over economic bill
Republicans are sharpening their knives while the Senate prepares to hunker in for a long weekend as Democrats deploy a special process to pass the party’s sprawling health care, tax and climate plan without buy-in from across the aisle. Republican leaders fumed over the Democratic effort at a press conference on Friday, one day before…
Ex-IRS heads say reconciliation bill will help agency target wealthy tax cheats
Three former heads of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are throwing their support behind a Democratic effort to boost funding for the tax agency to help target higher-income individuals and corporations they say “illegally evade their tax obligations.” Fred Goldberg, who headed the agency under then-President George H. W. Bush, joined Charles Rossotti and John…
What is a Senate vote-a-rama?
Democrats are working quickly to move a sprawling tax, health care and climate plan through the Senate in the coming days using a complex procedure known as budget reconciliation that could allow passage without any Republican votes. If Democrats remain unified in the critical stretch between now and when they bring the bill to a…
Democrats’ plan would decrease deficit by more than $100B: CBO
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday released estimates for Democrats’ sprawling reconciliation plan, forecasting the legislation would lead to a net deficit decrease of more than $102 billion over roughly the next decade. The estimates from the nonpartisan budget scorekeeper come as Democrats are moving quickly to pass the mammoth bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, later this…
GOP targets Sinema while going all out to block Democratic bill
Senate Republicans say they’re planning to pull out all the stops to deal some pain to Democrats as the majority party gets set to move a sweeping tax reform bill through the chamber and to the House and President Biden. Republicans are strategizing and laying the groundwork to make things as difficult for Democrats as…
Manchin-Schumer bill could bring down the deficit. Inflation — that’s debatable
Senate Democrats are plowing forward with a sprawling tax reform and revenue plan that advances key pieces of President Biden’s legislative agenda, including tax provisions long sought by the party to help front investments in health care and climate. Democrats say the new bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, aims to live up to its…
Manchin says he didn’t pull a fast one on GOP with deal on Inflation Reduction Act
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday pushed back on speculation around the timing of his agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on a mammoth partisan spending plan not long after Republicans voted with Democrats to advance a key bipartisan bill on semiconductors. Manchin was pressed by reporters on a call Thursday over whether…
Five ways the Fed interest rate hike will impact Americans’ wallets
The Federal Reserve is showing no signs of letting up in its aggressive fight to combat rising prices, tightening wallets as it hikes interest rates at the fastest pace in decades to get a handle on red-hot inflation. The central bank bumped its baseline interest rate range on Wednesday by another 75 basis points. The…
Manchin says he has reached a deal with Schumer on taxes, climate
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced on Wednesday that he has struck a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on legislation aimed at advancing key pieces of President Biden’s agenda, including measures that target taxes, lowering drug prices and combating climate change. “I strongly support the passage of commonsense policies that reduce inflation and…