| As in golf, it’s a bit like Moving Day on Capitol Hill, as key negotiators say they’re hopeful a deal on a massive social spending package could be reached today ahead of Democrats’ self-imposed deadline to show progress, any progress, before President Biden flies to Europe on Thursday. Despite the optimism, top Democrats indicated that there is still work to be done on a number of topics in order to get the proposal over the finish line with both centrists and progressives. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) indicated that negotiators still haven’t reached a deal on language to expand Medicare benefits and lower the price of prescription drugs, two major pieces of their agenda, but still believes an agreement is within striking distance. “I believe a final deal is within reach,” Schumer said (The Hill). Schumer also signaled that members are much closer to agreement on “robust” climate provisions (The Hill). There was also movement on how to pay for the package, as Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) threw her weight behind a proposal for a minimum tax on corporate profits. “This proposal represents a commonsense step toward ensuring that highly profitable corporations — which sometimes can avoid the current corporate tax rate — pay a reasonable minimum tax on their profits, just as everyday Arizonans and Arizona small businesses do,” Sinema, who also met with Biden on Tuesday evening, said in a statement (The Hill). Alexander Bolton, The Hill: Senate Democrats haggle as deal comes into focus. The Associated Press: Half its original size, Biden’s big plan in race to finish. Politico: White House enters “hand-to-hand” combat stage of negotiations. According to a group of senators, a 15 percent minimum tax would be applied to corporate profits reported on financial statements. Nearly 200 billion-dollar companies would be subject to the tax. The Hill and The Associated Press: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a billionaires tax proposal on unrealized gains from assets and a 15 percent minimum tax on corporations, which could help offset the price tag of the Democrats’ spending plan. “I’ve always felt that success was giving everybody in America the chance to get ahead, and what we’re dealing with here are flagrant loopholes in the tax code,” Wyden told reporters on Tuesday. “They’re legal, but I’m going to close them.” The Wall Street Journal: How the billionaires income tax would work. Democrats have been racing to reach a deal by the time Biden departs for Rome this week but key lawmakers warned that talks remained delicate. “Right now, it’s so tenuous. Everything is so tenuous,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters when asked for updates on a number of topics (HuffPost). Jordain Carney, The Hill: As clock ticks down, Manchin is the vote to get on spending plan. The Washington Post analysis: Manchin has eagerly and thoroughly sought to shape Biden’s agenda, becoming a one-man pivot point for an all-Democratic government and a self-styled emergency brake on what he has increasingly characterized as a liberal agenda run amok. The New York Times: Manchin Is in the middle, with Biden’s agenda in the balance. The Hill: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) draws red lines on Medicare expansion, drug pricing plan in spending bill. 
© Associated Press/Jacquelyn Martin While things appear to be progressing in the Senate, the same cannot be said for those across the Capitol, as Democratic leaders are unsure whether a framework deal on the mammoth social spending package is good enough to unlock the votes of progressive lawmakers to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package this week. As The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Scott Wong report, Democratic leaders were hopeful to hold the vote this week in a bid to boost the party’s gubernatorial nominees in Virginia and New Jersey in Tuesday’s elections. However, that possibility was torpedoed by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who told reporters that progressive members will oppose the bill until a final version of the multi-trillion-dollar reconciliation proposal is completed and voted on. “Let’s vote both of them out at the same time, and I would even be willing to vote the BIF and then three hours later the reconciliation bill as long as we have full agreement from everybody — everyone on the House side, everyone on the Senate side,” Jayapal (pictured below) said following an hour-long meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), referring to the oft-used acronym for the bipartisan infrastructure framework. Pelosi disagreed, telling reporters that she “thinks it is” enough to satisfy lawmakers (CNN). Adding to the calculus, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is in a dead heat with GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin, and handing the party a win on the bipartisan bill could do a world of good in a number of areas, they argue. “A Congress that can get something done is going to make you feel better about where the country's going. A Democratic president who’s successful makes you win,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). “I think Terry could live without it. But of course it would help.” The bottom line: A Senate outline of an agreement among Democrats on the Build Back Better agenda is one thing, but getting to a vote in the House on infrastructure is an entirely different matter. Just because the first part happens, don’t expect the second to follow. Progressives want to wait — and they have the votes. The Hill: Progressives scramble to save top priorities from chopping block. The Associated Press: Many progressives grudgingly accepting smaller economic bill. The Hill: Business groups, sensing victory, keep up pressure over tax hikes. The Hill: Paid family leave proposal at risk. 
© Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite | 
No comments:
Post a Comment