Biden infrastructure/tax increase megathread

[Progressive Pessimist]

Schumer to submit bill on drug negotiation agreed by all 50 Dems to parliamentarian

Schumer will submit text today to the Senate parliamentarian reflecting an agreement among all Democrats – including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) – to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs. The parliamentarian will then begin the “Byrd Bath” review process to make sure the proposal conforms with the Senate’s arcane reconciliation rules.

At this point, the rest of the package – informally dubbed Build Back Manchin – is up in the air. This is the low hanging fruit. Manchin has always supported this policy, as do 49 other Senate Democrats. So Schumer is starting with the lowest common denominator.

Medicare would be able to begin negotiating on drug prices from 2023, there would be some kind of $2,000 cap on out of pocket costs, a premium stabilisation policy, free vaccines for seniors, and a provision to "end the 'rogue secretary loophole'". This would also help finance the rest of the package by saving the govt several hundred billion dollars annually.

At least something will get passed, and it shows they haven't just given up and gone home. These provisions alone poll very well so it should be at least a bit of a boost for Democrats.

It's a start. What of the previous inclusions in the omnibus bill have the best chance of getting Manchin's blessing other than this?

[Pericles]

Schumer to submit bill on drug negotiation agreed by all 50 Dems to parliamentarian

Schumer will submit text today to the Senate parliamentarian reflecting an agreement among all Democrats – including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) – to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs. The parliamentarian will then begin the “Byrd Bath” review process to make sure the proposal conforms with the Senate’s arcane reconciliation rules.

At this point, the rest of the package – informally dubbed Build Back Manchin – is up in the air. This is the low hanging fruit. Manchin has always supported this policy, as do 49 other Senate Democrats. So Schumer is starting with the lowest common denominator.

Medicare would be able to begin negotiating on drug prices from 2023, there would be some kind of $2,000 cap on out of pocket costs, a premium stabilisation policy, free vaccines for seniors, and a provision to "end the 'rogue secretary loophole'". This would also help finance the rest of the package by saving the govt several hundred billion dollars annually.

At least something will get passed, and it shows they haven't just given up and gone home. These provisions alone poll very well so it should be at least a bit of a boost for Democrats.

It's a start. What of the previous inclusions in the omnibus bill have the best chance of getting Manchin's blessing other than this?

My guess is the tax stuff because Manchin never had a problem with raising taxes just with spending money, and there should be some way of doing that that Sinema agrees to. Extended Obamacare subsidies should be a no-brainer but Manchin is a drooling idiot with this kind of stuff. Manchin has claimed to want to do climate stuff but he could water it down so much that it's meaningless, or allow really helpful funding and incentives to go through. The last one is the main reason I want this bill, but it is all good stuff.

[jaichind]

I believe the proposed tax increases to fund this new Medicare proposal is

"Under the latest proposal, people earning more than $400,000 a year and couples making more than $500,000 would have to pay a 3.8% tax on their earnings from tax-advantaged businesses called pass throughs. Until now, many of them have been using a loophole to avoid paying that levy."

[Sir Mohamed]

Schumer to submit bill on drug negotiation agreed by all 50 Dems to parliamentarian

Schumer will submit text today to the Senate parliamentarian reflecting an agreement among all Democrats – including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) – to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs. The parliamentarian will then begin the “Byrd Bath” review process to make sure the proposal conforms with the Senate’s arcane reconciliation rules.

At this point, the rest of the package – informally dubbed Build Back Manchin – is up in the air. This is the low hanging fruit. Manchin has always supported this policy, as do 49 other Senate Democrats. So Schumer is starting with the lowest common denominator.

Medicare would be able to begin negotiating on drug prices from 2023, there would be some kind of $2,000 cap on out of pocket costs, a premium stabilisation policy, free vaccines for seniors, and a provision to "end the 'rogue secretary loophole'". This would also help finance the rest of the package by saving the govt several hundred billion dollars annually.

At least something will get passed, and it shows they haven't just given up and gone home. These provisions alone poll very well so it should be at least a bit of a boost for Democrats.

It's a start. What of the previous inclusions in the omnibus bill have the best chance of getting Manchin's blessing other than this?

My guess is the tax stuff because Manchin never had a problem with raising taxes just with spending money, and there should be some way of doing that that Sinema agrees to. Extended Obamacare subsidies should be a no-brainer but Manchin is a drooling idiot with this kind of stuff. Manchin has claimed to want to do climate stuff but he could water it down so much that it's meaningless, or allow really helpful funding and incentives to go through. The last one is the main reason I want this bill, but it is all good stuff.

Yup, Biden needs to take what he can get and run with it. Time is running out.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3557652-manchin-pumps-brakes-bill-needs-to-be-scrubbed-much-better/

Shoot, Manchin may only agree to the senior prescription drug price reduction part of the bill now.

[jaichind]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3557652-manchin-pumps-brakes-bill-needs-to-be-scrubbed-much-better/

Shoot, Manchin may only agree to the senior prescription drug price reduction part of the bill now.

Did Sinema agreed to the 3.8% extra tax on  pass throughs ?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3557652-manchin-pumps-brakes-bill-needs-to-be-scrubbed-much-better/

Shoot, Manchin may only agree to the senior prescription drug price reduction part of the bill now.

This is so pathetic.

[gerritcole]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3557652-manchin-pumps-brakes-bill-needs-to-be-scrubbed-much-better/

Shoot, Manchin may only agree to the senior prescription drug price reduction part of the bill now.

Ultimately he’s only gonna agree to naming a post office after himself and maybe some kickbacks for his daughter

[Pericles]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3557652-manchin-pumps-brakes-bill-needs-to-be-scrubbed-much-better/

Shoot, Manchin may only agree to the senior prescription drug price reduction part of the bill now.

He already asked for it to be a deficit reduction bill, it's not going to be inflationary.

[Frodo]

If this is going to be a healthcare-focused bill, then may I suggest adding COVID funding in there as well, preferably the full amount that President Biden originally asked for? 

[philly09]

https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1552394196245413890

[GeneralMacArthur]

Can't wait for the text of this to be released.

[Gass3268]

Renaming this bill the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” is sort of genius.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Basic details:

• Tax: 15% minimum corporate tax for companies with $1 billion in revenues + no SALT restoration + closing the carried interest loophole
• Energy: “All of the above” energy production: hydrogen, nuclear, renewables, fossil fuels and energy storage. Simplfy permit process reform for transmission systems, pipelines, and export facilities
• Decarbonization: reduce methane and carbon emissions
• Healthcare: reduce prescription drug costs and health insurance premium

Extremely barebones but probably the only thing that has a chance of passing before the new Congress. The tax stuff is actually pretty interesting, basically austerity by taxing the rich, but the rest...I'll wait to see the full details before passing judgement

[KaiserDave]

Decent news (but what's this about fossil fuels....), but let's wait for the Wicked Witch of Arizona to speak

[Pollster]

Barely waited hours after getting a big bipartisan chips vote to announce this.

McConnell got rolled in a savage way here.

[Lief 🗽]

Lmao at Manchin killing reconciliation so the GOP would pass CHIPS, then reviving reconciliation as soon as the GOP passed CHIPS.

[jaichind]

Decent news (but what's this about fossil fuels....), but let's wait for the Wicked Witch of Arizona to speak

There does not seem to be any board-based tax rates increase other than the 15% min corporate tax so I suspect  Sinema should be ok with this.  I can see her objecting to the 15% min corporate tax increase but I think she can be persuaded to get onboard this one.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Basic details:

• Tax: 15% minimum corporate tax for companies with $1 billion in revenues + no SALT restoration + closing the carried interest loophole
• Energy: “All of the above” energy production: hydrogen, nuclear, renewables, fossil fuels and energy storage. Simplfy permit process reform for transmission systems, pipelines, and export facilities
• Decarbonization: reduce methane and carbon emissions
• Healthcare: reduce prescription drug costs and health insurance premium

Extremely barebones but probably the only thing that has a chance of passing before the new Congress. The tax stuff is actually pretty interesting, basically austerity by taxing the rich, but the rest...I'll wait to see the full details before passing judgement

More detailed summary:



Closing the carried interest deduction, which would be a massive "F- you" to wall street, combined with appointing an aggressively pro-labor majority on the NLRB, would be two very strong arguments in favor of being a Biden hack again

[Gass3268]

Lmao at Manchin killing reconciliation so the GOP would pass CHIPS, then reviving reconciliation as soon as the GOP passed CHIPS.

Everyone talking about how Manchin should just join the Republicans forgets that he hates McConnell more than anyone else in the Senate.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

369 billion for climate?! Nice!

[wbrocks67]

Wow, finally some good news and a truly bad day for the "Biden hasn't gotten anything done" people!

Not just CHIPS but this is a huge deal.

Also amazing what can happen when all of these talks are behind the scenes. Manchin and Sinema truly made the situation 100x worse last year when they spilled all of their discussions out into the open. I like to think that Schumer learned from that mess for this time.

[Frodo]

It's only extending Obamacare subsidies for three years?  

[7,052,770]

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The tax stuff is pretty unambiguously good, but some of this is still really vague and hard to quantify.

"The bill will also finally allow Medicare to negotiate for prescription drug prices" what does that mean, exactly? Are we getting a sweeping permission to negotiate down all prices? Because that would rule. But if it's like that sh-t stand alone bill that was previously discussed, that only allowed 10 drugs to be negotiated from 2025 and another 10 from 2029, then that's kind of pathetic.

"Reduces carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030" is also extremely vague, because 40% compared to when? If 2022, then that's awesome. If 2005, then that's kind of meh