Joe Manchin

2022 - 7 - 28

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Senator Joe Manchin suddenly backs Biden climate and tax bill (BBC News)

Joe Manchin stuns Washington by announcing support for a measure to raise taxes and fight climate change.

However, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a moderate Arizona Democrat who has in the past acted as a roadblock to President Biden's agenda, could still scupper the plan. Mr Schumer hopes to pass the bill with 51 votes through a budgetary manoeuvre that would allow him to circumvent rules requiring support from 60 out of 100 senators. The House of Representatives could then take it up later in August. "I can't believe that Senator Manchin is agreeing to a massive tax increase in the name of climate change when our economy is in a recession," Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said. He is something of a political anomaly, representing a conservative state that voted overwhelmingly for former President Donald Trump. If passed, the legislation would mark a major breakthrough for the president, enshrining a number of his major policy goals into law and offering to salvage a domestic economic agenda that has in recent months stalled under failed negotiations.

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Joe Manchin Accused of Double Crossing Republicans as GOP ... (Newsweek)

The West Virginia Democrat said he could not support the full proposals in the potentially historic climate bill just two weeks ago.

"Now they want to pile on giant tax hikes that will hammer workers and kill many thousands of American jobs. He's been saying for months that he wouldn't support so many of the provisions in this bill, he called them gimmicks or smoke and mirrors budgeting, but now he's going to apparently support all of them." "Well, it was obviously a double cross by Joe Manchin," Cotton said. "I can't believe that Senator Manchin is agreeing to a massive tax increase in the name of climate change when our economy is in a recession," South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said in a statement. Cotton said the package is also a "huge, huge amount of spending" when added to the $250 billion CHIPS Act, which aims at increasing U.S. competition with China, which the Senate passed in a 64-33 vote on Wednesday and will now go to the House of Representatives for a vote. Speaking to Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Wednesday, Cotton accused the 700-page tax and spending bill which Manchin has signed of being "the longest suicide note in the history of West Virginia."

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Biden pledge to tax wealthy, companies revived with Manchin-led bill (Reuters)

U.S. President Joe Biden's campaign trail promise to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy as part of a battle against glaring income inequality in ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Companies could claim net operating losses and tax credits against the 15%. The new compromise bill includes $430 billion in new spending on energy, electric vehicle tax credits and health insurance investments. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Early proposals to increase tax rates from Biden and his fellow Democrats hit a brick wall in Congress after Republicans, and some Democrats, opposed them. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

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Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer Have A Deal, for Now (The New York Times)

Joe Manchin's climate announcement has the potential to be a very big deal.

The producers of the Broadway revival of “Into the Woods” are looking for a special prop: a huge, inflatable boot that hung over the theater’s facade in the 1980s. “It’s in storage,” said Michael David, the executive producer for the original run. “I think why it captured our imagination was the way it really physicalized this impossible balance of the show between whimsy and weight.” The Daily” is about inflation. Last night’s announced deal between Manchin and Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, is different from a complete bill that can pass in both the Senate and the House. Separately, the Senate yesterdaypassed an expansive, bipartisan billto bolster U.S. manufacturing — especially of semiconductors — and to counter China’s geopolitical rise. There is no timetable for his return to the lineup, though Trout said he planned to play again this season. Senator Joe Manchin had been blocking any deal, and the Senate is so closely divided that the Democrats cannot afford to lose a single vote. It’s especially significant because congressional Republicans have almost uniformly opposed policies to slow climate change (a contrast with conservatives in many other countries). And it remains unclear whether Democrats will again control both Congress and the White House anytime soon. Until yesterday, the Democratic Party seemed as if it were on the verge of squandering a major opportunity to combat climate change. The U.S. has a uniquely important role in fighting climate change. The world has already warmed to dangerous levels.

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Manchin revives climate deal: What's in the $369B bill (E&E News)

In a move that stunned Washington, Sen. Joe Manchin agreed to a deal that includes billions for environmental justice, clean energy manufacturing and a.

It’s a “10-to-1 ratio” of good to bad, Stokes said in an interview. “We worked around the clock to prove that clean energy investments will fight inflation.” “This will create thousands of new jobs and help lower energy costs in the future.” In essence, Manchin said he wanted to wait, and Schumer decided to continue immediately with a reconciliation measure containing only drug pricing and health care policy. Indeed, progressives yesterday held a press conference to push Biden on the emergency declaration. Stabenow noted that Sinema has been “a strong supporter of the climate provisions.” Manchin spent months trying to knock electric vehicle provisions out of negotiations, but the final deal offers thousands in incentives for the purchase of EVs and other types of commercial clean vehicles. “It may take some time to get through it,” Whitehouse said. Manchin and Schumer also agreed to advance permitting reform in a separate bill this fall. “There were hints, but nobody wanted to say anything until it was landed,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told reporters. Clean energy tax credits are the centerpiece. First, it will have to clear the Senate parliamentarian, an arduous process that determines whether each provision fits the strict budget rules governing reconciliation.

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What's Inside Manchin and Schumer's Landmark Climate Bill (The Atlantic)

In the late afternoon, Senator Joe Manchin announced that he had reached a compromise with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over President Joe Biden's long- ...

The first is a requirement that the government open up new locations for oil and gas leasing in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. The second is that it de facto requires the White House to open an acre of seafloor for offshore oil drilling whenever it opens an acre for offshore wind development. But if skeptics kill the bill over that alleged failure, they will have nixed a once-in-a-decade chance for Democrats to decarbonize and develop the U.S. economy. In short, the bill “keeps us in the climate fight and makes it possible that executive action, state and local government policies, and private sector leadership can get us across the finish line,” Jenkins said. That is, would it help make zero-carbon technologies cheaper, help produce them in abundance, and generally strengthen the political position of those who want to see the world decarbonize? That will leave a much smaller chunk of emissions for executive action to try to deal with. First it has to make it out of the Senate, where it will need the support of every Democratic senator. Schumer will now move to get the bill to Biden’s desk as soon as possible. And if Congress wanted to increase the market share of any new zero-carbon form of power generation, it had to pass a new law creating a tax credit for that specific technology. The new bill will significantly broaden the scope of these incentives, replacing them with technology-neutral tax credits that can be used for any low- or zero-carbon form of power generation. Among the tax credits is a new $7,500 rebate for new EV purchases. Because of the way these tax credits were structured, they typically had to run through a large bank or investment firm, and they couldn’t be used at all by a publicly owned utility or nonprofit. The legislation is so big, so multifaceted, that I don’t think it’s possible to summarize in this narrow space.

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Joe Manchin makes U-turn on tax and climate bill as US edges ... (The Guardian)

Of his secretive negotiations with Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer that led to last night's announcement, Manchin said: I never gave up. The ...

They will need all 50 votes of their votes in the Senate, and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema is a notable tax-hike skeptic. The president is meeting chief executives of key sectors and industries this morning for updates. They will need all 50 votes of their votes in the Senate, and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema is a notable tax-hike skeptic. And I’ve been trying to tell people that. So Monday, I said, ‘Chuck, I’m not walking away, never have, my people are still working. And I’ve been trying to tell people that. Good, bad, indifferent at times, but it’s always been respectful and he got mad... I’ve never walked away from anything. It easily passed there. So Monday, I said, ‘Chuck, I’m not walking away, never have, my people are still working. Good, bad, indifferent at times, but it’s always been respectful and he got mad... I’ve never walked away from anything.

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Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer announce deal for energy and ... (CNN)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday announced a deal on an energy and health care bill, representing a breakthrough after ...

To raise revenue, the bill would impose a 15% minimum tax on corporations, which would raise $313 billion over a decade. An earlier deal would have continued the beefed-up subsidies for two years, which meant they would have expired just after the 2024 presidential election -- a scenario that congressional Democrats did not want to encounter. The number would rise to 20 drugs a year for 2029 and beyond. It would also redesign Medicare's Part D drug plans so that seniors and people with disabilities wouldn't pay more than $2,000 a year for medication bought at the pharmacy. They have made health care coverage on the Obamacare exchanges more affordable, leading to record enrollment this year. The news also came several hours after the Senate passed a separate bill to invest $52 billion in US manufacturing of semiconductors, sending it to the House to consider as soon as this week. Manchin had thrown cold water on doing tax and energy provisions as part of the deal, but ultimately agreed to it. Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota told CNN that she was presiding over the Senate Wednesday evening when Schumer called to tell her he had reached a deal with Manchin on a climate and energy bill. Clean energy tax credits would drive the majority of those emission reductions, a Democratic aide said. Tax credits for electric vehicles made it into the new deal, according to two Senate Democratic aides. While many details have not been disclosed, the measure would invest $369 billion into energy and climate change programs, with the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, according to a one-page fact sheet. The agreement contains a number of Democrats' goals.

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Joe Manchin urges Republicans to back deal on US tax, spending ... (Financial Times)

The agreement includes some of the most significant climate legislation in US history. It comes after Manchin, a Senator from West Virginia — and a frequent ...

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Did Joe Manchin Actually Do a Good Thing? (Gizmodo)

The new legislation is a huge step forward for climate action—but Manchin is also making sure he helps out the fossil fuel industry.

It may be tempting to hope that Joe Manchin has seen the light, but it’s clear who still pays his check—and that he’s still making room for fossil fuels to flourish in the U.S. This bill is a promising start, but our future is still at the mercy of the wildly profitable industry calling the shots in this country. “It’s tricky and nefarious and takes us in the wrong direction,” said Moffitt. “Climate action needs to be built on clean energy and moving away from fossil fuels. Any legislation that encourages fossil fuel production of any kind is simply not in line with climate science. The U.S. is dragging itself over, not the finish line, but the starting line when it comes to climate action. The bill actually ties the success of renewable energy on federal lands to, ironically, the fate of fossil fuels on those same federal lands. That’s a wisp of a sum, compared to the $150 billion proposed for various housing initiatives in Build Back Better. There’s a lot of stuff in the bill making climate hawks happy today. “We must stop pretending that there is only one way to combat global climate change or achieve American energy independence,” Manchin’s statement reads. That’s not exactly a Herculean effort, considering the flat-out failure of Congress to pass any sort of climate legislation, like, ever, but we’ll take what we can get. Some other initiatives from Build Back Better are there, albeit seriously watered down: The new legislation, for instance, makes around $1 billion available for energy and water efficiency improvements in affordable housing for the entire country. Still, if passed, it would be the most ambitious piece of climate legislation the U.S. has produced to date. Delicately. Like they’re a very small appetizer at a very expensive restaurant, and I may not have enough money to pay the bill, and also maybe later I’ll get food poisoning.

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Democrats are blasting Senate Republicans for blocking a ... (Politico)

Democrats are blasting Senate Republicans for blocking a bipartisan bill aimed at boosting benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits on Wednesday. "It ...

He followed with a formal statement: "I am pleased to report that this will be, by far, the biggest climate action in human history ... This is enormous progress. (NB: We still have to hear from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on this deal.) Also on their agenda: A measure backed by Carole Baskin (of "Tiger King" fame) aimed at further protecting big cats, like tigers. And mere moments after Manchin's shock statement around 4:40 p.m, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) quipped to your Minutes host he was "preliminarily thrilled ... with the whole thing, man," including the climate sections. Of course, Republicans saw the reversal in a very different light. In a memo to progressive offices on Wednesday night, the group’s executive director wrote: “After a week of intense discussions, CPC Leadership feel comfortable saying that CHIPS money will not be a subsidy” to improve companies’ profitability or stock programs. This package may not be everything that we want, but it’s the start that we need." Still, landing the votes initially wasn’t going to be a heavy lift in the House, with multiple GOP lawmakers committed to the bill. Comedian Jon Stewart, who's been pushing to expand health care benefits for veterans for years, lit into Republicans for reversing course and voting against the bill. At least one Senate Democrat, meanwhile, was lobbying some rank-and-file Republicans from the opposite end of the whip count. Speaker Nancy Pelosi called that failure "hard to explain. "We’ve got to burn some shoe leather.

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Democrats race to adopt climate, health deal after Manchin ... (The Washington Post)

The key Senate Democrat said he reversed course after securing Democratic leaders' support for fossil fuels and assurances that their plan would not ...

And the senator said he told his staff to “scrub” the bill for potentially inflationary measures, maintaining as he has for months that the party’s proposed spending could worsen the country’s battle with inflation. When they were out of power, Democrats long discussed ways to lower health-care costs, reduce the price of medicine and combat climate change, Schumer said. Their final agreement does impose a new minimum rate on corporations, targeting major multinational firms that pay nothing to the U.S. government, but Manchin said that would not prove “inflammatory.” For one thing, Manchin secured support from Biden, Schumer and Pelosi for a forthcoming measure that would ease permitting around new energy production. The deal struck between Schumer and Manchin is a far more sweeping plan than Manchin said he was willing to support just two weeks ago. And it raises more than $300 billion that can be used to reduce the federal deficit. Manchin then called on his party to focus on health care if they hoped to act in July, or wait another month until new economic indicators arrived. In the House, meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) readied for the tough task of keeping her own razor-thin majority united. Sinema’s aides maintained that she would continue to review the legislation, which includes new taxes that some Democrats fear she may not support. The success or failure of Democrats’ efforts now depends on whether the often-fractious party can stay united. It also aims to lower health-care costs, particularly through changes to Medicare that could reduce some prescription drug prices for seniors. But a wide array of party lawmakers appeared ready to embrace the new agreement anyway, having seemingly put months of acrimonious bickering with Manchin finally behind them.

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Joe Manchin — Yes, That Joe Manchin — May Be Paving the Way ... (Vanity Fair)

Two weeks after upending reconciliation talks, the West Virginia Democrat announced a new deal with Chuck Schumer to invest $369 billion in climate and ...

And, of course, there are the perennial concerns that Manchin could once again move the goalposts. But, as Axios noted, it remains to be seen if she will continue to back that increase with Washington buzzing about inflation and a potential recession. We have a deal…maybe. After upending negotiations with his party on a reconciliation bill two weeks ago, seemingly dooming the possibility of any legislation addressing climate change for the foreseeable future, West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin pulled another about-face Wednesday: He and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have reached an agreement, he said, on a massive climate and tax package — a bill his staff wrote, and that could potentially pass through the upper chamber without Republican support.

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Green New Deal Democrats change tune on Joe Manchin after ... (Fox News)

Green New Deal proponents and environmental activists seem happy with Sen. Joe Manchin's climate and inflation bill after months of blasting the moderate ...

The bill includes investments to "decarbonize the economy" through things like tax credits for green energy manufacturing and electric trucks and buses, as well as rebate programs for domestic renewable energy use. This package may not be everything that we want, but it’s the start that we need," he said. "$370B for investments in clean energy, clean transportation, energy storage, farming, home electrification, and clean tech. Manchin on Wednesday announced an agreement on a reconciliation package that makes large investments in green energy production and health care while raising funds through additional corporate taxes and stricter IRS enforcement. The bill also includes $60 billion for "environmental justice priorities" like block grants "to address disproportionate environmental and public health harms related to pollution and climate change." Let’s get it done," Schatz tweeted.

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Joe Manchin: What's in US Democrats' 'inflation-fighting' bill? (BBC News)

US Democrats have said they will move forward with sweeping legislation to raise corporate taxes, lower healthcare costs and fight climate change.

It would allow him to pass the measure by a simple majority vote - with only the support of Democrats - in the evenly split chamber. None of those factors account for how Republicans will respond to the bill. Political in-fighting among Democrats and a spate of Covid-19 infections on Capitol Hill could also complicate the bill's passage. Majority Leader Schumer hopes to take up the bill in the Senate next week under a budgetary manoeuvre that circumvents regular order. The Biden administration has been negotiating with several countries around the world since last year on a 15% global minimum corporate tax, in an effort to limit international tax havens. So [this legislation] is going to give us the tools to see that deployment happen."

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With Manchin deal, talk of Biden's climate emergency declaration ... (NPR)

Now that Sen. Joe Manchin has pledged support for legislation that includes significant new funding to fight climate change, talk of President Biden ...

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How Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer's secret negotiations revived ... (CNN)

It was the middle of the night in Saudi Arabia when word emerged from Washington that President Joe Biden's long-stalled domestic agenda was dead.

"President Biden was not involved," Manchin said during a radio interview Thursday. "I was not going to bring the President in, I didn't think it was fair to bring him in, and this thing could very well have not happened at all. "When he's told me the problem's inflation, and the rest of it he could get to, I took him at his word." "We will need to be disciplined in our messaging and focus. I had to see if we could make this work." "When that 9.1 came in, I said, 'I can't, I just can't do it,'" Manchin said Thursday, recounting the conversation he held with Schumer after the two had been in private talks on reviving Biden's climate priorities for three months. Speaking behind closed doors Thursday, Schumer told Democrats they were on the precipice of passing items they'd been talking about for years. "I didn't negotiate with Joe Manchin," he said on July 15 inside the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Jeddah when a reporter asked whether Manchin was negotiating in good faith. "The work of the government can be slow and frustrating and sometimes even infuriating," Biden said a day later, emerging into the White House's State Dining Room to herald the surprise developments. Schumer was firm with Manchin that a climate deal needed to be reached before then. People around Biden had been leery of involving him in another round of legislative drama, only for negotiations to fall apart again. "Then the hard work of hours and days and months for people who refuse to give up pays off. It's less than half the size of Biden's original Build Back Better bill, and Manchin made sure to emphasize that name had been scrapped.

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Democrats deal with Sen. Joe Manchin raises new question: What ... (AZCentral.com)

Sen. Joe Manchin's surprise support for a Democratic spending plan raises the question of whether Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is on board.

The cash savings from the lower tax bill can be enormous for those in the lucrative investment industry. That would save an estimated $288 billion, according to the Democrats. These are guys that shift paper around and they get lucky." Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., quickly reiterated an interest in changing that because the issue affects many coastal residents, where property values and taxes are much higher. Sinema isn’t the only potential hurdle. Sinema, then a member of the House of Representatives, voted against the corporate tax cuts, like every Democrat in the chamber. I want to save the middle class," Trump said. "The hedge fund guys didn't build this country. But last year she said she was willing to institute a corporate minimum income tax because that would presumably affect the companies that now elude all income tax. The capital gains tax charged on investment growth, along with a related investment tax, tops out at 23.8%, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. By contrast, the top income tax rate stands at 37%. The summary also refers to $14 billion in new revenue from a tax provision known as "carried interest" that affects very high-income taxpayers, such as hedge fund managers. The latest plan could put the focus back on Sinema, who helped broker a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan into law last year, helped thwart Biden's Build Back Better plan when its price tag topped $3.5 trillion in 2021, and helped form the bipartisan coalition that passed changes to gun sales and mental health resources in June.

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What's in the climate bill that Joe Manchin supports – and what isn't (The Guardian)

The $369bn climate spending package is part of a broader package, known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

The final bill amounts to far less, even over 10 years, than what the US spends annually on its military. States and utilities will also get $30bn to help the transition to renewable, zero carbon electricity. The $369bn package has been touted by jubilant Democrats as the largest climate bill ever in the US, and even the world.

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Silent Sinema stresses Dems as they race to pass Manchin-blessed ... (Politico)

Almost every Senate Democrat is locking arms to push their $700 billion-plus climate, tax and health care bill past the chamber's strict rules for avoiding ...

On top of the parliamentarian’s scrubbing, Democrats will need full attendance from their 50-member caucus in order to pass the bill. And all that could play out in real time, with Democrats forced to litigate parts of their marquee party-line bill against Republican challenges as it’s being considered on the floor. The duo received final fiscal scores for their burgeoning agreement from the Joint Committee on Taxation late Tuesday night, according to a Democrat familiar with the deal. He said the legislation will ensure a “robust, clean fossil energy industry.” Manchin denied that he and Schumer waited to announce their agreement until after some Senate Republicans supported bipartisan legislation to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. News of the deal between Schumer and Manchin sent aides scrambling, trying to figure out which pieces of the emerging package have yet to receive much procedural scrutiny behind closed doors. And some don’t think Sinema has any other option but to support the deal in the end. In March, she said that a potential deal with Manchin “already has enough tax reform options to pay for it.” But that slog could eat up pivotal time over the next week — and result in the nonpartisan Senate rules referee knocking out portions of the proposal. At the moment, with the package set to reach the floor as soon as the middle of next week, her timeline for reaching a decision is uncertain. Democrats convened for a private caucus meeting Thursday morning to discuss the stunning Wednesday deal. But she’s also resisted at least one provision in the bill: closing what’s known as the carried interest loophole, which currently allows certain financial firms to pay lower tax rates on their earnings.

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After Clash, Manchin and Schumer Rushed to Reset Climate and ... (The New York Times)

The West Virginia Democrat said he had relented and agreed to sign on to a climate, energy and tax package after returning to negotiations to draft a ...

But they will have to navigate the legislation through a series of parliamentary and procedural challenges, including a set of rapid-fire, politically fraught amendments Republicans can force before a final vote. “He really was getting pummeled, and there was a risk that he would walk away altogether — he didn’t,” Mr. Coons said. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who has also been a holdout on her party’s domestic policy package, skipped the meeting with Mr. Schumer on Thursday and would not comment on the bill or indicate whether she planned to support it. Democrats appeared ebullient about the bill, even with some of their priorities jettisoned or severely curtailed. That clashes directly with Mr. Biden’s campaign goal of ending new drilling leases on federal lands and waters. The critical concessions that ultimately won Mr. Manchin’s support included jettisoning billions of dollars’ worth of tax increases he opposed. “The work of the government can be slow and frustrating and sometimes even infuriating,” Mr. Biden said at the White House, where he cheered the deal. They had been preparing to push forward with a scaled-back pairing of the prescription drug pricing measure with an extension of expanded health care subsidies. The talks were driven by major concessions made to Mr. Manchin — who demanded fewer tax increases, more fossil fuel development and benefits for his home state. “Then, the hard work of hours and days and months from people who refuse to give up pays off. Republicans were furious over news of the deal. Mr. Manchin was frustrated that Democrats had spent days publicly vilifying him for single-handedly torpedoing their agenda.

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Joe Manchin Agrees To Climate And Tax Deal — What You Need ... (Forbes)

The measure, called the Inflation Reduction Act, includes major new spending and tax subsidies for energy production, a 15 percent minimum tax on the income ...

In reality, the effects of the bill’s tax and spending provisions are likely to play out over many years and mean little to the near-term economy one or the other. The tax increases more than offset the spending and tax subsidies so the bill does not seem likely to add much to inflation. The corporate minimum tax in the Manchin-Schumer bill is different from the 15 percent corporate tax adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The US may adopt the global minimum tax well after it is approved by other countries, if at all. Biden proposed a number of significant changes to the taxation of US-based multinational corporations, including changes to the Global Intangible Low Taxed Income (GILTI) provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). But Manchin’s compromise drops all of those proposals. The centerpiece of the package’s revenue raisers is a 15 percent minimum tax on the income large corporations report to their shareholders. The bill drops most of President Biden’s proposed tax increases on high-income households as well as modifications of those tax hikes the House included in its version of Build Back Better last fall.

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Joe Manchin shifts into defense on Dems' tax-and-spend climate bill (Washington Times)

Sen. Joe Manchin III came out swinging against GOP critics Thursday who accused him of going back on his word by agreeing to tax increases and spending on ...

The Senate could try to pass the measure as early as next week if all 50 Democrats can make it onto the floor to vote. But inflation hit a 41-year-high in June. They said that would affect around 200 of the country’s largest corporations, with profits exceeding $1 billion, that currently pay under the current 21% corporate rate. “This is not a Democrat bill. It’s not a Republican bill. “The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up — take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole,” Mr. Obama said in the clip.

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House Dems find a surprise unifier: Joe Manchin (Politico)

After a year of raking the West Virginia senator over the coals, progressives and centrists alike complimented his new party-line deal.

(Part of the Senate’s schedule will be determined by Democrats having all 50 of their members available to vote, a perpetual problem for the Covid-stricken caucus, as well as meeting certain requirements that govern evading the chamber’s filibuster rules.) And Democrats’ numbers are expected to shrink further after a pair of special elections in New York on Aug. 23. House Democrats are expected to return from their August recess in less than two weeks to take up the legislation after it passes the Senate, which Schumer has estimated could take 10 days. Instead, as the nation’s inflation anxiety mounts, Manchin is handing House Democrats a bill that’s been re-engineered to reduce the deficit, while also reflecting their earlier goals of tax reform and climate. Few Democrats would publicly acknowledge that Manchin’s deal helped them sway liberal votes for a microchips bill that the left had initially scorned as a corporate giveaway. “None of us said we were not going to vote for any bill coming out of the Senate unless it deals with SALT.” Even bipartisan legislation to address burn pit victims is mired in a procedural snafu over in the Senate. Manchin announced his deal with Schumer hours after the semiconductor bill passed the Senate. “We needed to see SALT in any bill that reopened the 2017 tax bill, that had other tax impacts on our middle-class constituents. Unlike previous episodes of the extended Manchin drama, very few Democrats are digging in against their own this time around. The kumbaya moment-in-the-making is a welcome reversal for the downtrodden Democratic caucus that until two days ago was preparing for a summer recess with a fairly meager slate of accomplishments to tout. But after months of feeling like Charlie Brown hoping Manchin’s Lucy won’t yank the football away, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her caucus are now eager to take whatever Manchin and the rest of Senate Democrats can get through their 50-50 majority.

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Manchin: I was 'ostracized,' 'victimized' after nuking BBB (The Hill)

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in an interview on Thursday that he was “ostracized” and “victimized” after he poured cold water late last year on ...

Senate We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. “Then, I’m the wrong person to be where I’m at.”

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Climate experts experience an odd sensation after the Manchin ... (NPR)

The nearly $370 billion energy and climate spending deal struck between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and conservative Democrat Joe Manchin would be the ...

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How the Schumer-Manchin climate bill might impact you and ... (The Washington Post)

The package, if smaller than Democrats' initial ambitions, would transform huge sectors of the U.S. economy and affect millions of Americans.

Democrats have sought to reclaim the mantle of fiscal responsibility from Republicans after the 2017 GOP tax act increased the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion. That depends on which drugs wind up being negotiated and how much prices drop, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The deal allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time and would prevent future administrations from refusing to do so. It remains to be seen whether all the new revenue Democrats hope to raise will come from wealthy tax cheats, as they have pledged. The IRS would scale up dramatically in an attempt to close the “tax gap” — the difference between what people and corporations owe and what they actually pay. The plan would close off that option by subjecting large corporations to a tax on their financial statements. The single biggest tax hike in the plan would apply to all U.S. corporations that earn more than $1 billion per year in profits. In states where green banks have already been established, public money has been used to leverage six to 20 times more dollars in private investment in clean energy. If consumers claim the subsidies in the bill, they could save as much as $1,840 on their annual energy bill on average, according to an analysis by Rewiring America, a climate analysis group. A new $4,000 tax credit would also apply to purchases of used EVs. Tens of millions of people would qualify for these credits. To make new green energy production cheaper for utilities to build than fossil fuel plants are. “We’ve had decades of tax policy benefiting the rich, but this is really the first attempt to raise revenue in a progressive way that would begin to combat wealth and income inequality.”

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Image courtesy of "E&E News"

How Manchin-Schumer would change energy, from oil to solar (E&E News)

The sweeping agreement this week between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin would make significant.

The methane fee would concern a variety of “applicable” facilities, including for offshore and onshore oil and gas production and liquefied natural gas import and export. “Emissions are something that should be controlled and reduced, not treated as a revenue source for the government,” Sgamma continued. Under the bill, modifications to 45Q include an extension of the deadline for carbon capture projects — as well as direct air capture or carbon utilization projects — to start construction and still qualify for the credit. Half of these were likely to qualify for the 30 percent ITC proposed by House and Senate sponsors, limited to “regionally significant” lines, the ACORE report estimated. Hopper of SEIA said the bill would lead to “transformational investments” in U.S. companies. We’re very excited for this to become law and fully support the efforts to secure its passage by Congress,” said Rashid in a statement. The offshore oil and gas royalty rate would be set at 16.66 percent — with a maximum also in place for 10 years of 18.75 percent. “This so-called deal forced by Senator Manchin is what we would expect when Congress is so closely divided and friends and beneficiaries of the fossil fuel industry have effective control over ‘climate’ policy,” said Food & Water Action Executive Director Wenonah Hauter in a statement. Perhaps most importantly, the package would force the president to redo an oil auction in the Gulf of Mexico from last year that was vacated by a federal judge. Many experts also have noted the need for climate policymakers to focus on reducing demand for oil and gas rather than production, as cutting the supply of crude can have far-reaching economic consequences. “A reckless taxing and spending spree that will delight the far left and hammer working families even harder.” Rhodium Group Associate Director Ben King said in an email the bill could “plausibly” put the country on track for a 40 percent emissions reduction, citing previous modeling.

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Image courtesy of "Slate Magazine"

Joe Manchin Finally Signed Off on a Climate Bill. Does Everyone ... (Slate Magazine)

Joe Manchin Finally Signed Off on a Climate Bill. Does Everyone Get Free Solar Panels Now? By Nitish Pahwa. July 29, 20223:20 ...

The Inflation Reduction Act has $2 billion in grants to transform auto-manufacturing plants into EV producers, incentivizing those plants and their companies to not only make more clean cars but also ensure these manufacturing jobs stay in their communities. Although some measures to encourage job creation and protection in clean energy sectors did not survive the Manchin grinder, the new bill still has some stuff to help with a “just transition” away from fossil fuel–heavy jobs into a new electricity future. The richer you are, the easier it is to green your home, but the Inflation Reduction Act includes $1 billion in grants to help affordable housing become more energy-efficient as well. The Inflation Reduction Act will make it easier for Americans to reduce their carbon footprints, live far more sustainably, and acquire products that will improve their lives now and well into the future. Build Back Better is dead; long live the Inflation Reduction Act, a big social and climate spending bill that it seems everyone from the Squad to Larry Summers can get behind. The legislation may not be the multitrillion-dollar treasure chest originally desired by progressives, but it does quite a lot to back the building of better things.

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Image courtesy of "Roll Call"

Joe Manchin's 180 - Roll Call (Roll Call)

CQ Roll Call's David Lerman, Lindsey McPherson and Laura Weiss pore over Sen. Joe Manchin's surprise deal on the “Build Back Better” revamp.

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Image courtesy of "Politico"

The Manchin pressure campaign: CEOs, labor bosses and Bill Gates (Politico)

When Joe Manchin balked at the clean energy incentives in Democrats' expansive spending bill two weeks ago, the corporate C-suites and union boardrooms ...

“That’s the case I tried to make.” Conant spoke with Manchin’s staff after the bill text dropped late Wednesday and was pleased some of those provisions were included. Economists from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and deficit reduction advocate Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan think tank Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, also briefed Manchin during that period, according to people familiar with the meetings. Manchin had balked at the direct payments but eventually accepted them in limited form in the bill. “And that communication happened as well.” “We never saw this as dead,” the executive said. That person said Form Energy officials showed the differences on a graph. “And then you get it.” MacGuineas did not confirm or deny the meeting. And we did that.” “He heard from a wide range.” Manchin told reporters on a Thursday call that he “never walked away” from talks on July 14, the day when news emerged that he would not support the climate measures.

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