To the shock of many, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last night somehow persuaded West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to agree to a $700 billion climate, health care and deficit reduction bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
The two agreed on energy and climate change spending to the tune of $369 billion, authorizes Medicare to negotiate the price of certain prescription drugs, extend subsidies under the Affordable Care Act by three years and reduce the deficit by $300 billion. Granted, it's less than a third of President Biden's $2.2 trillion Build Back Better agenda. But given that Manchin had balked at the more modest deal earlier this month it is an astonishing turn of events.
Or is it? While Jonathan Chait is claiming "Joe Biden's Presidency Is Suddenly Back From the Dead" this ain't a done deal.
As of this writing, Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema has not voiced her support for the agreement. Indeed, Sinema is reportedly "frustrated" and "shocked" at not having been included in the discussion and Republican Senators are stoking the fires. If nothing else, Sinema is certainly going to make Democrats sweat as she "reviews" the bill and await rulings from the Senate Parliamentarian.
I have a bad feeling that she will not only give another thumbs down (as she did with the minimum wage bill last year) but that she could cross the floor and give Republicans control of the Senate and make Mitch McConnell majority leader once more. If this comes to pass it will be yet another example of why we can't have nice things.
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