A partisan comparison from a day in the life of the U.S. Senate, the world’s “greatest deliberative body.”
DEMOCRATS: For reasons unknown, Sen. Joe Manchin came around yesterday and it appears there may be a deal on a $369 billion climate and tax package.
The bill aims to tackle global warming by using billions of dollars in tax incentives to ramp up wind, solar, geothermal, battery and other clean energy industries over the next decade. Companies would receive financial incentives to keep open nuclear plants that might have closed, or to capture emissions from industrial facilities and bury them underground before they can warm the planet. Car buyers with incomes below a certain level would receive a $7,500 tax credit to purchase a new electric vehicle and $4,000 for a used one. Americans would receive rebates to install heat pumps and make their homes more energy-efficient.
The bill includes some concessions to fossil fuel producers, such as more oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The deal also includes, Politico reports, “$300 billion in deficit reduction, three years of subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums, prescription drug reform and significant tax changes.”
This part is big:
Democrats plan to raise revenues for the legislation by imposing a 15 percent corporate minimum tax, increasing IRS enforcement, reducing drug prices and closing the so-called carried interest loophole.
In summary:
LOWER DRUG PRICES. Republicans vote NO!
HIGHER TAXES ON HEDGE FUND BILLIONAIRES. Republicans vote NO!
EXTENDING AFFORDABLE CARE ACT SUBSIDIES. Republicans vote NO!
And now let’s look at the other side:
REPUBLICANS: Senate Republicans blocked House-passed legislation to guarantee access to birth control. All Arkansas House Republicans had already voted against guaranteed access to birth control in House passage.
REPUBLICANS: Senate Republicans, in an apparent fit of pique over the climate/tax deal, blocked the advancement of legislation, which, as the Military Times reports, improves health care and benefits for veterans suffering injuries from burn pit smoke, Agent Orange spraying and other military contaminant exposure. “It has been widely celebrated as a potential landmark legislative victory in veterans policy.” The noted gun-waving veteran, Sen. Tom Cotton, voted no along with 41 other Republicans on the procedural motion that blocked the legislation, even though one of its most prominent backers is Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas. He voted FOR the legislation.
Call the roll on:
Addressing climate change, birth control, lower drug prices, health insurance subsidies, aid to veterans and higher taxes on the super-wealthy.
SENATE DEMOCRATS: Yes.
SENATE REPUBLICANS: No.