Biden infrastructure/tax increase megathread

[Inmate Trump]

Democrats are really frustrating.

It's no wonder they have a hard time getting voters to like them.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

So just to get this back on track
Four weeks paid leave and a cutdown pharma negotiation plank have been added back to the package, BBB and BIF supposedly to be voted on tonight in the house.
Do we have any real updates?

[emailking]

I'm confused if the votes tonight are just BBB or also the bipartisan infra bill. That amendment would be passing BIF right?

[Attorney General & LGC Deputy Dwarven Dragon]

I'm confused if the votes tonight are just BBB or also the bipartisan infra bill. That amendment would be passing BIF right?

Senate Amendment to 3684 is the BIF yes

[Pres Mike]

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1455926946974535684?s=20

Yes, because things were so great in November 2020...

In November 2020 unemployment was at 6.7 percent and covid cases did not hit its peak until January when the US was at 300,0000 new cases

Under Biden unemployment dropped to 4.8 percent and covid cases have massively declined around the country. Yet all of that progress under Biden can be completely ignored since a lot of people in this country will simply say inflation is up and therefore things are worse than ever

Don't be surprised when you see some people even claim that things are worse now than it was during the great depression lol

Now of couse that is ridiculous and not even close to being true but as george carlin famously said....

I am a Democrat that adores Joe Biden

But inflation is a bigger problem than unemployment right now. Much bigger. Inflation hurts far more people than the 2% who have since gained emplyment in the last year. And honestly, most of those people have just returned to their sh**tty and low paying service jobs who were better off on unemplyment. Meanwhile inflation affects the bottom 90% long term. Even if supply chains are fixed, you think Walmart is going back to 2019 prices? (adjusted for normal inflation)

Here is something I noticed at my local big box hardware store. A regular 4x8 costed 9.99 in March 2019. It was about 19.99 last December. It peaked in April at 47.99. It is now 15.99

The lumbar crisis has been solved. Yet lumber is still higher than it was before the pandemic, even adjusted for the higher inflation. That is something that is going to hurt consumers/voters for years to come, considering corporate America doesn't raise wages unless they abolseylty have to

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1455926946974535684?s=20

Yes, because things were so great in November 2020...

In November 2020 unemployment was at 6.7 percent and covid cases did not hit its peak until January when the US was at 300,0000 new cases

Under Biden unemployment dropped to 4.8 percent and covid cases have massively declined around the country. Yet all of that progress under Biden can be completely ignored since a lot of people in this country will simply say inflation is up and therefore things are worse than ever

Don't be surprised when you see some people even claim that things are worse now than it was during the great depression lol

Now of couse that is ridiculous and not even close to being true but as george carlin famously said....

I am a Democrat that adores Joe Biden

But inflation is a bigger problem than unemployment right now. Much bigger. Inflation hurts far more people than the 2% who have since gained emplyment in the last year. And honestly, most of those people have just returned to their sh**tty and low paying service jobs who were better off on unemplyment. Meanwhile inflation affects the bottom 90% long term. Even if supply chains are fixed, you think Walmart is going back to 2019 prices? (adjusted for normal inflation)

Here is something I noticed at my local big box hardware store. A regular 4x8 costed 9.99 in March 2019. It was about 19.99 last December. It peaked in April at 47.99. It is now 15.99

The lumbar crisis has been solved. Yet lumber is still higher than it was before the pandemic, even adjusted for the higher inflation. That is something that is going to hurt consumers/voters for years to come, considering corporate America doesn't raise wages unless they abolseylty have to

I agree. We need people to put their kids in pre-K so they can go back to work. We need to fix the infrastructure. We need cheap renewable electricity and less expensive medicine for old people.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1456238085168054274

https://twitter.com/AndrewCQuinn/status/1456235834106159107

https://www.foxnews.com/media/joe-manchin-virginia-governors-election-results-wake-up-call-joe-biden-agenda-infrastructure
Manchin calls election results a 'wake-up call,' reacts to impact on Biden agenda
West Virginia Democrat is scared because people aren't saying, ‘This is good for our country'

"I just saw it to confirm that we have a divided country … I hope it's a wake-up call for all of us," Manchin said. "I'm concerned. I've been talking about our debt, I've been talking about inflation, [and] I've been talking about the [economic] fallout we may have [from the spending bills]."

Democrats should pay more heed to the immediate needs of the American people, such as rising gas prices and infrastructure, according to Manchin. "Why don't we do more drilling and why don't we do more basically production in the United States? I'm not depending on OPEC. I'm not depending on other countries for energy anymore. We know how to do it. We have the technology. We should be relying on ourselves."

"I'm a West Virginia Democrat, but I don't know. I don't know where maybe I belong at times, but I believe I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. And you know what? I have a lot of Democrats who feel the same as I do. I have a lot of Republicans feel the same as I do."

Manchin added that he respectfully disagrees with the progressive Democratic wing's guiding philosophy.

"This is a shame when we start this war of words ... We can have a difference of opinion – the rhetoric around here has gotten so harsh and so toxic that you can't agree to disagree anymore. You can't sit down and say, 'OK, I disagree with you."

"What scares the bejesus out of me – I don't hear people saying, ‘This is good for our country.’ It's more or less on both sides – It's is better for my party, this is better for the 2022 elections."

Full interview:

[emailking]

The BBB will be voted on tomorrow, per Maddow.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

Yep:

https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1456435057346891783

[7,052,770]

The BBB will be voted on tomorrow, per Maddow.

Boom.

[Attorney General & LGC Deputy Dwarven Dragon]

Rules committee to resume its deliberations at 11:10 ET Tonight

[roxas11]

This is getting so silly to me at this point

Joe Manchin is acting as if Dems has spent this year passing tons of far left bills when in reality, Biden has only signed 1 covid bill early this year and then nothing else has happened since. Manchin is warning Dems to not got to too far left as if he himself does not seem to realise that all he has done is fight with progressives for most of this year while no policy left or right has gotten passed

This is not like the Obama years when the American people had a backlash to the democrat agenda after seeing Nancy Pelosi pass bill after bill in 2009-2010

So far the only thing the American people have seen from Biden and the Dems this year is mostly nothing. Heck, we are not even at the stage where the Republican even have to attack the reconciliation bill as hard as they did Obamacare because the Dems are still fighting among themselves and it's still not clear they are ever going to pass anything at all

I just think we have reached this point with Joe Manchin where he needs to simply come out and say he does not support the reconciliation bill if that's how he really feels, but this silly game he is playing where he puts out a statement claiming they are close to deal one day and then he says the opposite the next day has grown tired.

My advice to Dems at this point is to get this ridiculous process over with as quickly as you can and never put yourself in a situation where you have to rely on Joe Manchin and kyrsten Sinema ever again
 

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1455926946974535684?s=20

Yes, because things were so great in November 2020...

In November 2020 unemployment was at 6.7 percent and covid cases did not hit its peak until January when the US was at 300,0000 new cases

Under Biden unemployment dropped to 4.8 percent and covid cases have massively declined around the country. Yet all of that progress under Biden can be completely ignored since a lot of people in this country will simply say inflation is up and therefore things are worse than ever

Don't be surprised when you see some people even claim that things are worse now than it was during the great depression lol

Now of couse that is ridiculous and not even close to being true but as george carlin famously said....

Biden is saving America from Covid and he is the JOBS President. Trump is the first President since Hoover to have lost jobs during his presidency.

[Attorney General & LGC Deputy Dwarven Dragon]

Rules Committee has reported out BBB on a 9-4 party line vote

[NOVA Green]

So the SALT CAP increase from 10K to 72K is in the bill ?  Wow.  This does not make sense.  The group that will benefit from this is really the AGO $400K-$1million crowd.  For the $5 million AGI gang, this benefit is fairly tiny and will really not change their behavior.

So this
a) Crosses the Progressive red line of giving a tax cut to a higher income bloc
b) Does not really solve the problem of high-income groups migrating from blue states to red states and blowing up the fiscal situation in high tax blue in the long run

So this is the worse of both worlds for the Dems.  The only explanation is a handful of Dem House members from high-income districts mostly in CA NY NJ CT etc have a lot of doners from the $400K-$1 million gang and feel they have to deliver for their doners.

PS.  Does a quick calculation show that the Dems want to retroactively give me an extra $20K for the 2021 tax year.  I guess I will take it even as I think this entire exercise is just stupid.  I will always take free cash.

I think it's bizarre that you think this makes no sense. The incomes you're talking about are upper middle class in the NYC area, which I'm sure you know, and so there are quite a few of them. This will help many people who were totally ripped off by the Trump tax law and actually had their taxes raised. Sure, you can argue these people don't need the help, but they are now part of the core of the Democratic party and likely were a big source of funds for ActBlue and other Dem PACs. Meanwhile it excludes the super high earners (like Trump) who are very few in number and really don't need the tax break. I think this is the best way to go about changing the SALT cap, redress the injustice done by Trump upon the upper middle class in NY/NJ/IL/CA and reward a sizable bloc of your supporters while not rewarding the super rich.

It makes no sense because the $400K-$1million AGI gang is not that mobile and is unlikely to be able to move to a low-tax red state WHILE they are actually making this income.  It is the $5 million gang that is far more mobile with the nature of their work.  I agree it makes sense from an electoral politics point of view in those few districts.  The main risk for the Blue states the SALT cap created is more the $5 million AGI and above gang are now more likely to move AND the state finances are very dependent on revenue from that group.  NJ is most likely the most vulnerable.   

I'm pretty sure this was very low on the list of considerations for both Trump and the Democrats when changing the SALT deduction and the electoral politics were by far the main consideration. Trump basically treated this group like a disfavored minority group to be singled out and oppressed because he knows they hate him and voted heavily against him.

SALT also screwed over a ton of working-class and Middle-class voters, even in a state like Oregon.

It was a deliberate attempt by the Republican Party to screw over States where State taxes are higher, but deliver much more services and reallocate wealth to the Upper-Income and wealthier voters in places such as the South and Midwest and then do a "starve the beast" type angle.

We got screwed over when we moved back to OR from TX, because we couldn't use the same tax deductions others did (Kids, Housing, etc...) and suddenly we were completely in the hole on our FED taxes, despite just being basically slightly above average middle-class wage earners who do Payroll Taxes.

Don't blame it on the Government of Oregon but squarely on PUB taxation politics where they are screwing people over in certain parts of the country and rewarding them on others....

Just sayin' as a DEM SOC for SALT repeal.... (Got no bread no assets and if me or my spouse gets sick we are basically a couple paychecks away from being homeless again).

[NOVA Green]

Rules Committee has reported out BBB on a 9-4 party line vote

Any hints if this will go to the floor T-Night or T-Morrow?

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Rules Committee has reported out BBB on a 9-4 party line vote

Any hints if this will go to the floor T-Night or T-Morrow?

Reporting so far has been tomorrow.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Now, Pelosi schedules vote on infrastructure after we lost VA, this should of been done last week or at the end of September when Terry was about to win VA after D's won the Cali recall

[NOVA Green]

Now, Pelosi schedules vote on infrastructure after we lost VA, this should of been done last week or at the end of September when Terry was about to win VA after D's won the Cali recall

You not following man....

The VA GOV race had 5% to do with Infrastructure.

Sorry to bust your narrative but believe that to be 100% the case....

VA-GOV race was completely independent from National Narratives regardless of your sources....

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Pelosi just said she wished she passed infrastructure last week before the VA Gov race it's up to your own interpretation on how you thin VA Gov race gone but 4 pts could have been easily made up and DS kept the State Legislature

[H. Ross Peron]

https://twitter.com/jmartNYT/status/1456033264372789254

Really telling how these "centrists" consciously reject the legacy of FDR and the New Deal.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

snip tweet

Really telling how these "centrists" consciously reject the legacy of FDR and the New Deal.

Just call them Republicans, my friend.

[Antonio the Sixth]

If Manchin is still making these noises, we have to hold the line and not pass the BIF until BBB makes it through the Senate. It still feels like we're getting conned here.

[jaichind]

More details on SLAT cap change.  The plan is to retroactively lift the cap from 10K to 72.5K from 2021 to 2031.  The status quo is the SALT cap is set to expire in 2026.  This way this cap is there longer (to 2031 as opposed to 2025) so the Dems can claim this is revenue neutral over the 2021-2031 time period.  Sanders and other progressives are saying no but they might end up backing down in exchange for other concenssions.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

If Manchin is still making these noises, we have to hold the line and not pass the BIF until BBB makes it through the Senate. It still feels like we're getting conned here.

It really feels like we are just setting this up for Manchin to kill it.
But if Jayapal is on board, we just kind of have to trust her. They wouldn’t move BIF if something hadn’t broken we aren’t seeing.