The BIF, Build Back Better, Continuing Resolution and Debt Ceiling omnibus

Hasn't the issue been that Manchin is a deficit hawk who's OK with some tax hikes but utterly opposed to any new spending, while Sinema is OK with some new spending but utterly opposed to any tax hikes?

Or, to put it another way: Sinema is OK with helping people as long as it doesn't cost the rich anything, while Manchin is OK with the rich paying more as long as it doesn't help anyone.

This isn’t the first time Lucy has tee’d up this budget reconciliation football but being a cosponsor is definitely something.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act

Provisions
The bill would raise revenue from:

• Aligning with the 15% global minimum corporate tax rate - $313 billion
• Prescription drug price reform, including Medicare negotiation of drug prices - $288 billion
• Increased tax enforcement - $124 billion
• Eliminating the carried interest loophole - $14 billion

It would spend this revenue on:

• Continuing for three more years the expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies originally expanded under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 - $64 billion
• "Energy Security and Climate Change" - $369 billion
• Deficit reduction - $306 billion

Once again, nothing to do with infrastructure.

Damn!

Truly, nothing gets by you.

You totally caught that the bill introduced today was not the infrastructure bill signed into law last November.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_Investment_and_Jobs_Act?wprov=sfti1

Great job Richard Sherman.

Any Republicunt supporters want to explain why it's perfectly OK and not just a petty act of revenge for the Dems passing this that they backtracked today on a bill designed to help veterans exposed to toxic substances?

https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/gop-senators-take-revenge-demsby-punishing

Paladin, TLS, anyone?

It's just like the semiconductor thing. As long as people vote party lines, nothing will be done for the people and corporations continue to screw us over.

Jon Stewart, god bless this man. Yeah I don't play partisan games when it comes to veterans. They served their country, they deserve healthcare.

The best healthcare for Veterans is the same shit we use to put down dogs. I like Jon Stewart, but he is wrong on this one.

Oh fuck yeah!

Notable that if the IRA passes, not only will the in house free file be more convenient and cheaper than TurboTax, but it will also be entirely in the administrations power to run a check on people to determine if they qualify for Medicaid or subsidized ACA plans during tax time

As well as institute a special enrollment period for those who qualify for ACA plan to sign up then.

https://twitter.com/phelprya/status/1552799422077091841?s=21&t=40Rc1pet7SBXSLW1p6053A

Hey, case in point:



ASAB (All Soldiers Are Bastards)

I once relayed an incident to my company’s First Sergeant (highest ranking enlisted in a unit) - woman was assaulted and her First Sergeant advised her to drop it, to “think of his career”. I was astounded that his thought was for the man’s career when he quite obviously was not, why should she worry about it. My First Sergeant (someone with whom I’d thought I had a pretty good rapport) said he would have done the same. The relationship was never the same again.

While I'm sure your case is/was probably the norm, I know it wasn't always the case. I have a friend who was in the Air Force, and she was in a very abusive marriage (her husband was also in the Air Force). She and her husband were stationed in some shithole state like Missouri, and even though she was trying to divorce her husband, he was using legal loopholes to prevent the divorce from going through. This went on for months, if not a year or more before her CO found out. When he did, he had transfer orders cut for her to send her someplace out of state, he gave them to her with just enough time for her to get on a plane and leave. Told her not to worry about her things, and not to worry about her husband (who soon discovered that he was being shipped out to somewhere very far away from his soon-to-be ex-wife and no idea where she was). This enabled her to get a quickie divorce when she got to her new assignment, and as soon as her hitch was up, she left the Air Force and did her best to disappear. Thirty years later, her ex is still trying to track her down, but has been unable to do so, as she's largely cut off all contact with any friends or family who knew him.

There absolutely are decent people in all branches of the military. But it is an isolated society and despite all encompassing regulations, your direct chain of command will determine your opportunities. If they want you out, you’ll be put out regardless if you done anything wrong or not. They can also save your life such as the instances you’ve described.

Speaking of military experiences…. Not sure how true it is, but it’s an epic story and exactly the kind of shit military people do.

John Tester is a Democrat I’d happily vote for. I saw him on Bill Maher a few months back and he really comes across as a stand up guy.

Now that Manchin has committed (apparently) it's Senima who can't resist her time for a diva turn in the spotlight.

I realize they are stuck with Manchin but that bitch needs to be primary so indescribably hard in '24

I have a feeling she’ll come around. It is MUCH harder to be ‘the one’ that kills a deal than to be pair.

But yes. She has to go. As a fellow bi-sexual (pan/whatever) it is embarrassing that she is our first (openly) representation at that level.

GOP senators have shown willingness to fuck the entire country.

We really should not be putting all the blame on either sinema or munchkin. They are just the opportunists who are stepping in. If it wasn't for 50 republican senators hating on the people they love to send to war, there would be no problem passing it. They could spin it as something patriotic to their people, but instead all of them would rather own the dems than to pay for the healthcare of those who served our country and fought their wars.

This should be something that has bipartisan support, and if just a few republican terrorists voted for it there would be no need to worry about either of the two fake democrats.

maybe the best pod out there for understanding complex climate/environment stuff when you're not steeped in the science is Dave Roberts' Volts.

This week he has a couple of involved folks going over the implications of the IRA on the environmental goals originally expressed in BBB - good listen if you're curious about such

Volts podcast: what to make of the Democrats' last-minute climate bill

I have heard it is 4/5ths of BBB’s reduction. Is that about right?

that's about what they concluded

I was responding to one of my fellow Blue Jays fans this week on Twitter. I'd boosted a tweet that listed off a considerable and impressive string of accomplishments by Biden and the Democrats in the most numerically difficult of circumstances. It's has been said it's the most consequential Dem Congress since LBJ - and objectively that certainly true....

AND YET...my dude observed that there's been a lot left on the table and much of it seemingly willingly (like the easy slam dunk of decriminalizing pot in the Federal code and commuting all non-violent convictions) and my reply was that Biden is being measured on two different scales:
One one, measured against previous unifed governments, it has been a MASSIVE success and that all the more so given the 50-50 Senate

On the other, measured against all that NEEDS doing in this moment when democracy hangs by a thread and the barbarians are literally at the gates, it seems to be a middling list hardly bigger than the list of what remains undone and in many cases unattempted.

So while I still mourn that we could have had Warren, I have to pay respects to Biden. Getting shit done should not be dismissed - it should be rewarded with an expanded Congressional majority and more elbow room to attack the list of what's left yet to do.

It's easy for those on the progressive left to say "we're disappointed that more hasn't been done" when the pollster calls, but it's also wise to consider the alternate universe you'll be living in if you don't back him up in November.

Krugman posted this on Twitter, it's chopped off so it's not fully clear what it's describing except as a comparison to the bigger bill, but still

House passes IRA. Assuming Biden signs it that means everything in the OP (although BBB was significantly trimmed down) along with some bipartisan gun reform, veterans healthcare funding and *MAYBE* enshrinement of Gay Marriage will become law.

Tomorrows NYT:

Biden's Legislative Agenda Has Been Enormously Successful, Here's Why That's Bad for Biden | NYT Opinion

https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1558212607164780544?s=21&t=2nuJsweY43tZhm39VJjEiw