The $700 Billion Spotlight on Senator Kyrsten Sinema
The Inflation Reduction Act of 22
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The Manchin-Sinema theatrics over the past year have been tiresome. The constant back and forth. The endless negotiations. The wild roller coaster ride.
It was a bit much.
As soon as the shock of Senator Manchin blowing the ‘Build Back Better’ bill faded away, I felt a sense of relief. He chose Fox News as his platform for delivering his ‘no’ to the Biden world. Theatrics at its best.
After eight months of delivering virtually nothing to make Americans look forward to the future, we are back at it again. Yesterday, Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin announced that they had reached an agreement on a $700 billion climate, tax, and health care bill dubbed “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”.
“The Manchin-Schumer deal includes roughly $370 billion in energy and climate spending, $300 billion in deficit reduction, three years of subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums, prescription drug reform and significant tax changes. Manchin said the bill was at one point “bigger than that” but that’s where the two Democrats settled”.
I won’t walk you through the details of the bill. Once the bill reaches the President’s desk, there will be plenty of time to do that.
We would be better served by understanding the road this bill will take, the pitfalls to avoid, the ambush party around every corner, and how it will affect midterm elections.
The Manchin Turnaround
Bernie Sanders’ ABC news interview that made its way through national and social media likely played a significant role in Manchin’s turnaround.
Here is Manchin’s explanation of how he and Schumer resolved their differences. Take a moment to read the last sentence again.
“It’s like two brothers from different mothers, I guess. He gets pissed off, I get pissed off, and we’ll go back and forth. He basically put out statements, and the dogs came after me again”
