Sinema

SINEMA SIGNS ON — Arizona centrist Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is backing the Democrats climate, tax and health care bill, after an agreement on changes to the ...

“His political acumen is very strong, like ‘let me talk to West Virginians. Here’s a way to do it, and here’s a convenient way to do it, and it’ll be tough but fair, but I know it will be fair.’” WARNOCK WEEKEND LONG-READ — A deep dive on Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) as he transitions from a candidate who ran as an activist preacher to an incumbent who needs to prove that despite the split Senate, he’s delivering for Georgia…“In strictly political terms, this tension and connection might be expressed as purity versus pragmatism. Later Saturday, a vote on the motion to proceed to the climate, tax and health care bill is expected. The Senate isn’t in session today, but is expected to reconvene midday on Saturday, with votes kicking off at 12:30 p.m. on a motion to discharge a nomination. China says it is suspending or canceling dialogue with the U.S. on a range of issues, from military relations and anti-drug efforts to climate change in retaliation for Pelosi’s Taiwan trip, The Associated Press reported this morning. More from The Associated Press. Ranking member Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) encouraged folks to visit, during regular business hours to pay respects. But when he wants to get the word out, there’s a man he usually calls. MANCHIN’S RADIO MAN — You can follow Manchin around all day every day and still not know what’s on his mind. China has also sent military ships and war planes across the centerline of the Taiwan Strait, crossing what has been an unofficial buffer zone between China and Taiwan. Today, staff will present arguments on taxation, including the electric vehicle tax credits, behind closed doors. But they aren’t on Summer recess either.

The last Democratic holdout on the budget reconciliation package said last night she would support advancing the measure after the removal of a tax.

The results are still unclear, but Republicans said they do not expect to succeed in challenging a fee on methane — a crucial piece of the bill’s climate policy ( E&E Daily, Aug. 4). It’s not written the way I would like it to, but we’ll see what happens.” “As a Westerner, I would be supportive of drought funding. Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a progressive who caucuses with Democrats, also blasted the proposal in a floor speech this week. Stabenow said she wanted to ensure it does not come out of emissions reduction policies. But “we’re still talking about the other piece of it. A Saturday vote on the initial motion to proceed would kick off 20 hours of general debate, equally divided. “I expect we will have some late nights and extended debates here on the floor,” Schumer said yesterday. According to POLITICO, that money is expected to be included in the bill. “I think we’re making good progress.” The senator also took issue with claims the bill would give EPA more power. Lawmakers were hoping to begin considering the bill sooner.

Democratic leaders also tweaked the structure of a 15 percent corporate minimum tax and threw in some drought relief funding to benefit Arizona. Sinema endorsed ...

Democrats instead added a new 1 percent excise tax that companies would have to pay on the amount of stock that they repurchase, said one Democratic official, who disclosed details of the plan on the condition of anonymity. Democratic leaders also tweaked the structure of a 15 percent corporate minimum tax and threw in some drought relief funding to benefit Arizona. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema signed off on sweeping Democratic legislation Thursday that would provide new spending to mitigate climate change and extend health care access while taxing corporations.

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the enigmatic Democrat from Arizona, is once again at the center of attention in Congress, where she's the linchpin in Democrats' ...

“I’m not anti-corporation, but everybody has to pay a little bit,” Biden said. The change would have brought in an additional $14 billion in federal revenue, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated. The CBO estimates that provision would add about $313 billion in revenue over 10 years. She “politically doesn’t have a choice.” According to Payscale, the average hedge fund manager salary is $145,437 a year. Carried interest is the percentage of an investment’s gain that money managers take as compensation. And she was one of two holdouts on a larger version of a Democrats-only spending bill. “Subject to the parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement at the same time. As written, the bill would provide $575 million to the Bureau of Reclamation for drought response and preparedness and $13 million for drought relief for tribes. She reportedly was working to cut the provision that would raise the tax rate for carried interest, part of the compensation of private-equity and hedge-fund managers and executives. And though Sinema is far from the only one to have withheld a statement of support, she’s seen as the person who holds the measure’s fate in her hands due to her history of bucking party leaders and her past opposition to some of its tax provisions.

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is the linchpin in Democrats' plans to pass a party-line climate, health and taxes bill.

Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. “I’m not anti-corporation, but everybody has to pay a little bit,” Biden said. The CBO estimates that provision would add about $313 billion in revenue over 10 years. The change would have brought in an additional $14 billion in federal revenue, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated. She “politically doesn’t have a choice.” According to Payscale, the average hedge fund manager salary is $145,437 a year. Carried interest is the percentage of an investment’s gain that money managers take as compensation. And she was one of two holdouts on a larger version of a Democrats-only spending bill. “Subject to the parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement at the same time. As written, the bill would provide $575 million to the Bureau of Reclamation for drought response and preparedness and $13 million for drought relief for tribes. And though Sinema is far from the only one to have withheld a statement of support, she’s seen as the person who holds the measure’s fate in her hands due to her history of bucking party leaders and her past opposition to some of its tax provisions.

"Kyrsten Sinema has spent her entire Senate term posturing for a multimillion-dollar job in private equity," said one critic. "Now she's looking to close ...

"The final version of the reconciliation bill, to be introduced on Saturday, will reflect this work and put us one step closer to enacting this historic legislation into law." Free to share. Free to republish. "Kyrsten Sinema has spent her entire Senate term posturing for a multimillion-dollar job in private equity," said Erica Payne, founder and president of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group that supports progressive tax policies. "When Sinema loses her primary and her Senate seat (if she even bothers to run at all) her private equity billionaire backers will give her not a golden parachute, but a diamond-studded, ruby-encrusted platinum one," Payne added. Sinema also won unspecified changes to the structure of the reconciliation bill's proposed 15% corporate minimum tax, which was aimed at preventing large companies from dodging taxes by stashing profits overseas. To inspire. To inform. To ignite change for the common good. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. On Tuesday, Sinema held a private call with Danny Seiden, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. According to Seiden, the Arizona Democrat asked him if the minimum tax was "written in a way that's bad."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday cheered Sen. Kysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) for softening her party's corporate minimum tax measure but criticized a new ...

Companies on the S&P 500 bought back a record $882 billion in stock last year to reward shareholders. They couldn’t afford to lose enough funding that the bill wouldn’t significantly reduce the deficit, a key priority for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). In a deal to appease Sinema, Senate Democrats on Thursday evening agreed to modify the 15 percent minimum corporate tax so that manufacturers can take advantage of accelerated depreciation rules to buy equipment.

Senate Democrats aim to pass the bill through the budget reconciliation process, which requires a majority vote and cannot be blocked by a filibuster.

“I look forward to the Senate taking up this legislation and passing it as soon as possible.” Senate Democrats aim to pass the bill through the budget reconciliation process, which requires a majority vote and cannot be blocked by a filibuster. “Subject to the Parliamentarian's review, I'll move forward.”

The path was nearly cleared for one of the cornerstones of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda after Democrats agreed on a revised version of their tax ...

The Arizona Democrat's support paves the way for a long-awaited party-line Senate vote to pass key pieces of President Joe Biden's agenda.

Last year, Manchin and Sinema balked at several measures in Biden's more expansive Build Back Better legislation that sought to overhaul the social safety net, and the bill stalled. To pay for the measures, the bill would establish a 15% corporate minimum tax and beef up enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service. The legislation would decrease the federal deficit by $102 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would need the votes of all Democrats in the evenly divided Senate and then a tiebreaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris. Schumer said Friday that Sinemarefused to proceed with negotiations unless the carried interest provision was removed. The Democratic leader said the Senate is on track to begin consideration of the bill on Saturday. Republicans are expected to introduce a large number of amendments that could prolong the process.

Arizona senator says she will support key Biden package – follow all the latest politics news.

At the same time, the treasurers of Utah and Idaho are pressuring the private sector to drop climate action and other causes they label as “woke.” Joe Biden is about to sign a couple of bills at the White House and we’ll have an ear out for any relevant remarks. While they still do plenty of business with oil companies, major asset managers like BlackRock and banks like Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase have signaled a desire to support the transition from fossil fuels. When that’s happened, millions of people suffer from years and years just trying to get back to where they were before, just trying to get back on their feet. In the past, it’s taking years for Americans to recover from an economic crisis. We can debate over whether it’s foolish to assign any intellectual significance to the tweets made by weirdos on the internet, but I do think that both Dark Brandon and DarkMAGA were interesting artifacts of America’s superheated political environment. In a speech at the White House, Joe Biden praised the July jobs numbers, which came in much better than expected. It’s an aesthetic that mirrors the related Dark MAGA trend, in which alt-right dead-enders and QAnon veterans have adopted an increasingly occultist tone to sheathe their reactionary beliefs. The term “Dark Brandon” first surfaced in early 2022 as part of the usual gamut of memes and burns deployed by America’s extremely online socialists—especially those who’ve found themselves feeling euphorically apocalyptic in the face of unchecked climate change, a theocratic Supreme Court, and Joe Manchin’s seemingly insurmountable veto power. At the White House, Joe Biden cheered yet another month of healthy job growth as he looks for ways to revitalize his dismal approval ratings. In the end, she did demand changes to how the legislation is paid for, but they weren’t especially big. With her support, Democrats have all 50 votes they need to get the bill through the evenly divided Senate. There’s not much Republicans themselves can do to stop them, so, instead, they’re hoping that Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough intervenes.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema walking down a hall. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) walks to a vote at the US Capitol on July 28, 2022, in Washington, DC ...

In general, policies need to have a clear impact on taxing and spending in order to qualify for a budget reconciliation bill. After Democrats settle on a finalized version with the parliamentarian’s signoff, they can then begin the voting process. Democrats are expected to get an update from the Senate parliamentarian on Friday, who could rule on whether aspects of the prescription drugs provisions qualify for the bill. The legislation is now on track for a final vote this weekend, though it still has to overcome a few other hurdles before the Senate can approve it. She said in her statement of support that the legislation will no longer close the carried interest tax loophole, a change she has long opposed that would have taxed money managers’ income at the same rate as other income. The bill is still under review by the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan rules expert who will determine whether the policies in the bill qualify for the reconciliation process Democrats want to use.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) arrives at the U.S. Capitol for a vote August 3, 2022 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer—Getty Images.

That would still leave over $300 billion in the measure for deficit reduction. Those lawmakers have been seeking around $5 billion but it was unclear what the final language would do, said a Democrat following the bargaining who would describe the effort only on condition of anonymity. Republicans want to kill as much of the bill as possible, either with the parliamentarian’s rulings or amendments. He said the bill “addressed a number of important issues” that Democratic senators raised during talks. Left unclear was whether changes had been made to the bill’s 15% minimum corporate tax, a provision Sinema has been interested in revising. The overall bill would raise $739 billion in revenue. Sinema said Democrats had agreed to remove a provision raising taxes on “carried interest,” or profits that go to executives of private equity firms. “Subject to the parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward,” Sinema said. It will be replaced by a new excise tax on stock buybacks which will bring in more revenue than that, said one Democrat familiar with the agreement. The announcement came as a surprise, with some expecting talks between Schumer and the mercurial Sinema to drag on for days longer without guarantee of success. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he believed his party’s energy, environment, health and tax compromise “will receive the support of the entire” Democratic membership of the chamber. Instead, Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin, the conservative maverick Democrat from West Virginia who derailed Biden’s earlier efforts, unexpectedly negotiated the slimmer package two weeks ago.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema had one main request before she would support a key spending bill: Preserve a tax loophole that mainly benefits people in private ...

Not a party to the suit but perhaps anticipating future litigation, it told DealBook in a statement that it was also blocking payments to TrafficJunky. “New facts from last week’s court ruling made us aware of advertising revenue outside of our view that appears to provide Pornhub with indirect funding,” a spokesman said. Musk said Twitter moved fast because it knew it would soon be restating its user count, which “would have likely caused the Musk Parties to ask further questions that could delay the signing of the Merger Agreement.” Twitter says in its proxy that it was Musk who pushed Twitter to sell quickly: On April 24, Musk told Twitter’s chair, Bret Taylor, that he was sending over a draft merger agreement so they could have a deal by the next day’s stock market open. In its response to Musk’s claims, Twitter writes: “Musk sought an urgent deal, undertook no due diligence, and offered a self-described ‘seller friendly’ merger agreement that contained no representations about false or spam accounts or mDAU.” I’d like to thank you for reading The Times and encourage you to support journalism like this by becoming a subscriber. Doing so will give you access to the work of over 1,700 journalists whose mission is to cover the world and make sure you have accurate and impartial information on the most important topics of the day. The $369 billion climate and tax package that Senate Democrats proposed in July could have far-reaching effects on the environment and the economy. Musk says he’s joining the Twitter board on April 5. An investigation by The Times’s David Gelles uncovered a campaign to thwart regulations aimed at shifting to sustainable energy, advanced by the State Financial Officers Foundation, a little-known nonprofit group. Japan condemned China for its military exercises near Taiwan, and Pelosi, visiting Japan, responded defiantly to the rising tensions. With Sinema on board, the bill is likely to move quickly through the Senate. This bit of wiggle room in the tax code mainly benefits private equity professionals, allowing them to pay lower investment tax rates on compensation that should almost certainly be considered ordinary income. Some speculate that campaign contributions swayed Sinema. In the past five years, Sinema has received $2.2 million from investment firms, according to Open Secrets. KKR and Goldman Sachs are among her top contributors.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema removed the carried interest provision included in Democrats' inflation bill, a victory for private equity interests that have poured ...

"Increasing taxes on carried interest means many entrepreneurial firms and small businesses across sectors will not have access to the capital they need to compete, scale, innovate and navigate challenging economic conditions," Kerrigan told FOX Business last week. The carried interest provision included in the original reconciliation package would have removed a loophole that allows private equity and hedge fund managers to pay fewer taxes. "As small business owners face rising costs and our economy faces serious headwinds, Washington should not move forward with a new tax on the private capital that is helping local employers survive and grow." The loophole would have raised $14 billion in federal tax revenue, according to initial estimates. As part of the agreement, she successfully removed the carried interest tax provision, which targeted a loophole used by wealthy Americans. The New York Democrat's campaign has raked in nearly $1.2 million from individuals and PACs in the industry this cycle.

After days of silence, the Arizona senator announced she would “move forward” with the Democrats' climate, health, and tax bill—though her support comes ...

The original deal between Manchin and Schumer—a scaled-back version of Biden’s signature Build Back Better plan, which has been something of a white whale for the president in this 50-50 Senate—included $369 billion in climate and energy spending and $300 billion in deficit reduction measures. Her support comes with some caveats, of course: In addition to the procedural concerns, she noted in her statement that the agreement she struck involved removing the bill’s carried tax provision—which had been a sticking point for Sinema and the corporate interests she’s close to. When Joe Manchin announced a surprise deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week paving the way for a climate and tax reconciliation package, one big hurdle stood in the way of a Democratic celebration: Would Kyrsten Sinema support the party-line bill her fellow holdout had negotiated?

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he had no choice but to remove a provision closing the so-called carried interest tax loophole for ...

Finance Finance Finance We’re adding in an excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in $74 billion,” Schumer said. Other Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), however, point out that ending the carried interest loophole would affect asset managers who advise on investments, not the investors who put their own money up finance a project or business. “Sen. Sinema said she would not vote for the bill, not even move to proceed unless we took it out so we had no choice.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Democrats had “no choice” but to drop a key tax provision from their major spending bill in order to ...

And while the carried interest provision was nixed, Schumer said Democrats added in an excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in $74 billion. I think they're one of the most self-serving things corporate America does," Schumer said. It was projected to raise $313 billion — more than 40% of the bill's revenue. But "Senator Sinema said she would not vote for the bill, not even move to proceed unless we took it out," he said. The bill's provision was projected to raise $14 billion over a 10-year period. Sinema, a centrist Democrat from Arizona, had withheld her support of the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping bill that includes much of the Biden administration's tax, climate and health care agenda.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has struck a deal with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona on the Inflation Reduction Act, teeing it up for a vote in ...

Senator Kyrsten Sinema at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Meeting in Washington. Every Democrat was sacrificing something in ...

The vote-o-rama, Lindsey Graham said, “will be hell.” John Thune, the G.O.P.’s No. 2 in the Senate, vowed a series of “hard votes” that would likely spill into Sunday. On the Democratic side, Schumer’s office was arranging calls with different members of the caucus to urge discipline. Any vote involving a simple majority would require the approval of the current parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who insures that each provision of the bill in question has a “budgetary element.” The process by which MacDonough scrutinizes legislation is called the “Byrd Bath,” and both parties spent the week making arguments to her—Democrats in favor of their provisions, Republicans against. “We have agreed to remove the carried interest tax provision,” it read. Her place at the center of the reconciliation fight gave her the extra influence she needed to secure more Republican backing. In this case, the Republicans will likely introduce amendments on issues of vulnerability to Democrats up for reëlection: immigration, policing, crime. “Is this written in a way that’s bad?” she asked them, according to a CNN report. Then there were the provisions that Democrats accepted for the sake of Manchin, who has close ties to the oil and gas industry. “This has been a groundbreaking summer,” Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, who recently brokered a bipartisan deal on guns, told me. “Every member of the caucus really had something in this deal that they’re not getting.” For him, it was a civilian climate corps, an issue he’s pushed for years. Bernie Sanders was giving up the “F.D.R.-ness” of the package, as one progressive adviser put it. The Democrats were trying to bring a sweeping reconciliation bill to a vote before the August recess, but they needed all fifty of their members to support the new proposal. “I have never been more surprised on the upside than when Joe Manchin came back to this deal.”

Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said that she'll sign on to the Democrats' climate bill—after advocating for a few adjustments that she apparently didn't ...

Tom, who has been hired as a staff writer, will continue writing Peacefield and also contributing to The Atlantic in print and online. But a word of caution: If you’re tallying up Donald Trump’s wins and losses as the sole measure of his influence over the Republican Party, you’re missing the point, as I write in my latest article. P.P.S. Starting Monday, Tom Nichols will be returning to The Daily—this time permanently as the lead writer of the newsletter. It would be hard to choose the most Jewish moment in this year’s production of Oberammergau’s Passion Play, the grand spectacle that recounts the story of Jesus Christ’s trial, suffering, and resurrection. Or check out two new movies—one streaming on Hulu, the other playing in theaters—that offer sharp critiques of the horrors of being extremely online. All of this confusion has prompted dozens of articles asking things like “What is Kyrsten Sinema’s Deal?” and “What Does Kyrsten Sinema Really Want?” Reporters have called the senator’s views “shrouded” and “enigmatic,” pointing out that even her style “keeps us guessing.” But these are all euphemisms for describing someone who seems to take pride in her lack of transparency. She seems to view her base as Arizona moderates and independents, a broad middle section of voters who don’t have strong political views and aren’t demanding much in the way of political change. The problem, though, is that polls show that Sinema is very unpopular with Arizona Democrats; Republicans actually view her much more positively. In her limited public statements of substance, Sinema has articulated that she wants to keep Arizona friendly to businesses. But Sinema has veered further to the right during her Senate career than seems politically expedient, given that Arizona has elected two Democratic senators and a Democratic president. The Democrats’ new legislation might actually be more effective than the original in terms of reducing the deficit, and Sinema could make the case for that. “Sinema wielded her extreme political power to demand a tax break for rich Wall Street bros,” Ezra Levin, from the progressive group Indivisible, tweeted last night.

Senate Republicans today slammed moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, in comments that threatened to block ...

“When we pass this legislation, that will dominate,” Schumer said. They don’t know what to do.” Members on both sides will introduce a flurry of amendments to reconciliation before final passage. Barrasso’s direct attacks on Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, were notable because of their previous bipartisan collaboration on energy and environment issues. The Senate is gearing up to hold an initial procedural vote on the reconciliation package tomorrow afternoon. This morning’s Republican press conference also included a preview of how the party intends to handle the “vote-a-rama” scheduled to begin this weekend.

Sen. Joe Manchin sealed the deal reviving President Joe Biden's big economic, health care and climate bill. But it was another Democratic senator, Kyrsten ...

Environmental leaders, who have been involved in talks on the bill since last year, said Sinema has helped shape the bill all along. It includes what the Biden administration calls the largest investment in climate change ever, with money for renewable energy and consumer rebates for new and used electric cars. If that’s what was needed to gain her support, then good on her.” And it was Sinema who in one final stroke gave her blessing to the deal by extracting an ultimate demand — she forced Democrats to drop plans to close a tax loophole that benefits wealthy hedge fund managers and high-income earners, long a party priority. A final round of grueling votes on the package is expected to begin this weekend. In a 50-50 Senate where every vote matters, the often inscrutable and politically undefinable Sinema puts hers to use in powerful ways. Some pointed to past legislative luminaries — the late Sen. Robert Byrd, for example, used his clout to leave his name on roads, buildings and civic institutions across the West Virginia hillsides. She has been instrumental in landmark legislation, including the bipartisan infrastructure bill Biden signed into law last summer. Not the country. “@SenatorSinema is holding it up to try to protect ultra rich hedge fund managers so they can pay a lower tax.” But it was another Democratic senator, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who intently, quietly and deliberately shaped the final product. She also is tucking in more money to fight Western droughts.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), a crucial vote in an evenly divided Senate, announced last night that she would support a key piece of Biden's legislative agenda ...

Even in its altered form, the bill is a huge deal, promising to direct billions toward combating climate change, extend Obamacare subsidies through Biden’s term, and reduce prescription drug costs. Schumer plans to introduce the final bill tomorrow. But the bill was not going to move forward without the support of Sinema, who demanded that Democrats drop a provision that would place new limitations on the carried interest loophole—which many of her donors happen to benefit from—and garner roughly $14 billion in funding.

Democrats removed a proposal to block hedge fund managers from dodging millions in taxes on Sinema's behalf.

But the bill also includes major giveaways to the fossil fuel industry — giveaways so significant that executives at major oil and gas companies like Exxon have thrown their support behind the package. Some such amendments will come from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Because Democrats have made significant concessions to Manchin and his corporate and fossil fuel donors, the bill is now much weaker than what progressives had originally wanted last year. It’s unclear if the parliamentarian will rule against any parts of the bill. Sinema said in a statement that, after the Senate parliamentarian reviews the budget package, she will “move forward” with the bill. But nixing the minimum tax would weaken Manchin’s goal of reducing the deficit, and it’s unclear if the proposal is still in the bill. Sinema had also raised concerns about the 15 percent corporate minimum tax proposal, which is the main revenue raiser in the bill.