Bernie's Transformative Build Back Better Is Now Manchin's Nothing Much Inflation Reduction Act

Sinema-- will she tank the whole thing or won't she??

The new Build Back Much Less Better reconciliation deal Schumer made with Manchin— but not yet with Sinema— goes beyond just 2 years of Obamacare subsidies plus lower drug care of 10 drugs. It’s now called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Despite GOP caterwauling to the contrary, the Wharton Business Model "would reduce cumulative deficits by $248 billion over the budget window and would very slightly increase inflation until 2024 and decrease inflation thereafter. These point estimates are statistically indistinguishable from zero, thereby indicating low confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation. This is what’s included:

• 15% minimum corporate tax rate on billion dollar companies

• Billions to the IRS to beef up enforcement

• Elimination of the carried interest loophole

• The weak Medicare prescription drug plan

• $369 billion for climate and energy provisions

• $300 billion towards deficit reduction

It’s a reconciliation bill that bypasses McConnell’s ability to filibuster it. It means every single Democrat will have to vote for it (including Sinema). And it has to pass the House, where Gottheimer and Suozzi and a couple of other reactionaries say they will tank anything that doesn’t include getting rid of the elimination of the SALT tax. It was Manchin, usually an ally of the right-wing House Dems, who killed their demand.

Patrick Leahy, who broke both hips and is retiring will be back in the Senate to vote for the package next week. And here's how McConnell laid out GOP opposition on Twitter a couple of nights ago:

The bribe to Manchin— or at least one go the bribes for Manchin— to get him to go along, is the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would transport Appalachian shale gas from West Virginia to Virginia.