Senate Democrats have reached an agreement on eleventh-hour changes in their top priority economic lawHe made the announcement late Thursday, clearing a major obstacle to moving the measure through the chamber in the coming days.
Kirsten Cinemas, a Democratic Senator of Arizona, a centrist in what was seen as the deciding vote, said in a statement that she had agreed to changes to the measure’s tax and energy provisions and to “move forward” on the bill. was ready.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said lawmakers had reached an agreement that “I believe will have the support of all Democrats in the House”. With Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote, her party needs a consensus to push the measure through the Senate 50-50.
The Senate is expected to hold its first vote inflation reduction act Saturday.
The election-year bill, a top priority of Housing President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, spent hundreds of billions of dollars and tax credits to promote clean energy, reinvent fossil fuels, and renew government support for people who buy private health insurance. will provide. It will increase revenue with tax increases, increase IRS tax collection and curb drug prices, saving money for the government and patients.
“We prioritize middle class and working families rather than those at the top. God bless them, they’re doing fine,” Schumer said.
Democrats need to garner the support of all their lawmakers to win the 50-50 Senate and avoid an apparent self-inflicted defeat, as happened last November on a larger version of the package. Republicans as one are on track to oppose the law, saying its tax increases and spending will lead to inflation and damage to the economy.
“What do Democrats want to do with all the money that is taken out of Americans’ pockets in the midst of a recession?” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “They want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on an issue that exactly 3% of the country say is our biggest problem: far-reaching environmental and climate spending.”
The Senate will not be in session on Friday. The pause would also provide time for Senate MP Elizabeth McDonough to decide whether any provision of the bill violates chamber rules and should be removed.
Republicans want to kill as much of the bill as possible, either with McDonough’s decisions or with nonstop votes expected to run well on Sunday or beyond.
Even if the GOP amendments are defeated, they would consider it mission accomplished if they forced Democrats to vote on risky, poignant issues like taxes, inflation and immigration during the campaign season. Huh.
Vice President Kamala Harris may vote to break the 50-50 draw and approve the bill.
