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President Biden's Infrastructure Plans

Senate Democrats reach agreement on prescription drug prices - CNNPolitics
The deal would empower Medicare to negotiate prices of certain costly medications administered in doctors' offices or purchased at the pharmacy, according to a document circulated by Schumer's office. Drugs wouldn't be eligible until they were outside their initial exclusivity periods -- nine years for many, 12 years for others.

Medicare would negotiate up to 10 drugs, starting in 2023, with prices taking effect in 2025. The number would rise to up to 20 medications starting in 2028. This is a far more limited proposal than the one Democratic leaders in the House have backed.

...
Moderate Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who helped tank the party's original plan to allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of certain drugs, affirmed her support for the new deal.

"The senator welcomes a new agreement on a historic, transformative Medicare drug negotiation plan that will reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors -- ensuring drug prices cannot rise faster than inflation -- save taxpayer dollars, and protect innovation to ensure Arizonans and Americans continue to have access to life-saving medications, and new cures and therapeutics," Sinema's office said in a statement.

...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has pushed to allow Medicare to negotiate, said she was "pleased" with the compromise.
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It's not as much negotiating power as one might want, but it seems to satisfy one of the main objectors to the reconciliation bill. Let's see if she is on board with the rest of it.
 
Jayapal says House progressives ready to 'pass both bills' without commitment from Manchin and Sinema - CNNPolitics
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal on Monday said her caucus is ready to move forward on two bills key to President Joe Biden's agenda "as soon as tomorrow," a significant concession after previously seeking direct assurances from Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on the legislation.

Speaking with CNN's Victor Blackwell on "CNN Newsroom," Jayapal said that after spending the weekend reviewing the legislative text and conferring with the progressive caucus, she is ready to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill as well as the $1.75 trillion social safety net expansion bill once a few details in the latter are finalized. Progressives, who have so far held up the bipartisan measure by demanding a concurrent vote on the larger package, trust that Biden can get all Democratic senators on board with the social safety net legislation, she said.

"The President said he thinks he can get 51 votes for this bill. We are going to trust him. We are going to do our work in the House and let the Senate do its work," the Washington state Democrat said. "But we're tired of, you know, just continuing to wait for one or two people."
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I'll believe it when I see it. I want to see Jim Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema vote yes on the reconciliation bill.
 
Pelosi pushes Manchin: Speaker puts paid leave back in Biden bill
Pelosi (D-Calif.) appeared to drop the gauntlet at the feet of Manchin (D-WV), telling members of her caucus that while she initially planned to move forward with a bill that could pass both chambers without being amended, she has decided to alter course and ramp up pressure on the upper chamber.

“It had been my intention throughout this process to put on the House floor and pass a bill that would pass the Senate in the same form. Because I have been informed by a senator of opposition to a few of the priorities contained in our bill and because we must have legislation agreed to by the House and the Senate in the final version of the Build Back Better Act that we will send to the President’s desk, we must strive to find common ground in the legislation,” she wrote.
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Joe Manchin Wants New Payroll Tax on Workers to Access Paid Leave
  • Manchin is backing what appears to be a new payroll tax on workers and businesses to fund paid leave.
  • "I think that basically employers and employees should participate," he told Insider.
  • He threw cold water on Pelosi's move to add four weeks of paid leave back into the $1.75 trillion social spending bill.
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At least they are getting somewhere. Looks like they are closing in on the complete text of the bill.

Democrats, Stung by Electoral Losses, Press Forward on Biden Agenda - The New York Times - "Disappointed by a loss in Virginia and a closer-than-expected race in New Jersey, Democrats were working toward quick action on key bills to show they could govern."
Hanging over the endeavor was a deep sense of dread among Democrats — reinforced by the results on Tuesday — that their prospects for keeping control of Congress in the midterm elections next year were dwindling by the day, amid President Biden’s sagging approval rating and widespread discontent with the direction of the country.

“The No. 1 concern voters have raised with me over the last several weeks has been inability of Congress and government in general to get things done at a time of great need for the country,” said Representative Tom Malinowski, a Democrat in a swing district in New Jersey. “So the best thing we can do in Congress is to pass these damned bills, immediately.”
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It's disappointing that it took some losses to goose them into action.
 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Happy to announce creation of a US Civilian Climate Corps is now in the Build Back Better Act.🌎

Estimated to create 300k+ public jobs w/ Dept of Labor + Americorps to combat the climate crisis &enviro injustices.

We 1st outlined the vision for it here: (link)" / Twitter
A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Also 😭 at us producing and filming this 2 years ago and predicting labor shortages today" / Twitter

Jessica Cisneros on Twitter: "The Oil & Gas industry shouldn’t be able pay @RepCuellar to block the #BuildBackBetter agenda and action on climate.

Yet, just yesterday, he joined @SenatorSinema & @Sen_JoeManchin in hesitating to support the bill due to the inclusion of the methane fee. (pix link)" / Twitter
DARK MONEY

Mysterious Dark Money Group That Backed Big Oil's Favorite Democrat' Was Funded by Big Oil

American Workers for Progress, which spent big for Cuellar, was funded by an oil and gas industry lobbying group.
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That's a reason why JC wants to primary him.
 
lpetrich said:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Happy to announce creation of a US Civilian Climate Corps is now in the Build Back Better Act.🌎
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I still don't have a good idea what these climate paramilitaries are supposed to be doing ...

Estimated to create 300k+ public jobs w/ Dept of Labor + Americorps to combat the climate crisis &enviro injustices.
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... or why it would take 300k of them. That's a lot of new federal employees.
I hope Sinema and Manchin do not sign off on AOC's shenanigans.

We 1st outlined the vision for it here: (link)" / Twitter
A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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That is just the video her people made to promote her GNG plan. That plan costs $60-100T. Much more expensive than even the Spendapalooza. Also, according to this video, that "vision for the future" only includes non-white people, according to the characters in that doodle. Also, that video includes one "job" AOC's climate paramilitaries will supposedly have - digging up pipelines. Coocoo stuff.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Also 😭 at us producing and filming this 2 years ago and predicting labor shortages today" / Twitter
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She predicted labor shortages due to massive spending in her GNG, not due to massive spending due to a pandemic. Close enough only counts with horse shoes and hand grenades. :)

Yet, just yesterday, he joined @SenatorSinema & @Sen_JoeManchin in hesitating to support the bill due to the inclusion of the methane. (pix link)" / Twitter[/url]
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I do agree we need to do more to capture methane. But do you know what we need to carry all that methane so that it can be used? You guessed it - pipelines! And those are anathema on the Left.

P.S.: At least the new system does not break emojis.
 
Obama Obstructionist Joe Lieberman Applauds Manchin and Sinema - "The former senator, now a leader with the dark-money group No Labels, is still proud of himself for killing the public option."
No Labels has been an enthusiastic and prominent supporter of right-wing Democrats working to stymie, if not outright kill, the social spending bill. In August, the dark-money group cut an ad celebrating the intransigence of nine House Democrats who attempted to force the vote on the infrastructure bill. While the tactic was a strategic failure — the bill still hasn’t come to a floor vote, more than two months after the group demanded immediate action — it paid off in a more literal sense. The cohort’s leader, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., has since raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from No Labels-linked donors, as have several of his allies.
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Peter Daou on Twitter: "Ha! One of the original rotating villains wants the spotlight back from the current ones. (link)" / Twitter

Chris Richards 🐬🖖🏻 #ClassWarNotColdWar on Twitter: "Joe Lieberman would be cheering Manchin and Sinema on, but let’s remember that just about every Dem Senate supported Manchin against @paulajean2020 in 2018. It’s not just the villains you see." / Twitter
That's Paula Jean Swearengin, who tried to primary Joe Manchin in 2018. She ran again in 2020 and got the Democratic nomination for Senate, but the party didn't help her very much, and she lost to the Republican incumbent, Shelley Moore Capito.
 
Trausti said:
With the election results tonight - bad for Dems and a rejection of far-left positions - why would the WV and AZ senators want to put their names on this spending bill?
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This is so predictable. Too many on the left don't care only care about passing their narrow agenda.
Derec said:
lpetrich said:
Democrats, Stung by Electoral Losses, Press Forward on Biden Agenda - The New York Times - "Disappointed by a loss in Virginia and a closer-than-expected race in New Jersey, Democrats were working toward quick action on key bills to show they could govern."
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I think the electoral losses should instead lead them to slow down with "transformative" legislation. Pass the bipartisan infrastructure, but slow down on Spendapalooza.
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No! The dem losses election night were only due to dark money! Kidding. However, this is directed at Trausti: the republicans who won also moved away from Trump. Youngkin did everything that he could to avoid Trump. Dems are going to have to regroup after yesterday. However, the republican party could come apart as the reasonable and smart republicans split from Trump. Will be fun to watch!
 
Manu Raju on Twitter: "Henry Cuellar, a Blue Dog, ..." / Twitter
Henry Cuellar, a Blue Dog, told us there are enough moderates who would tank the procedural vote for the $1.75 trillion bill tonight, saying the rule "is not going to pass" if it comes up.

"As of right now, there are enough votes in my opinion to vote no on the rule.”

He said there are outstanding issues to resolve first. But Cuellar said there has been a lack of trust caused by broken promises of Democratic leaders.

"They told us they were not going to move this til they were not going to have 50 votes in the Senate. They also told us they were going to vote on BIF until Sept. 27. And here are they are," he said, referring the shorthand of the bipartisan infrastructure framework.”

"So the two things they told us have not been kept together -- so there certainly is a lack of trust among moderates,” Cuellar said
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Jessica Cisneros on Twitter: "Two days ago @RepCuellar finally said he’d vote for the #BuildBackBetter framework, now he’s threatening to tank the bill again.

This is what he always does, stand in the way of progress for our families, because he thinks we're not watching but we've had enough." / Twitter
 
House expected to hold Build Back Better and infrastructure votes Friday - CNNPolitics

Conservative Democrats’ Lucrative Career Path - "Democratic senators who oppose core party agenda items and upset the base can’t lose — because if they do, they get paid."
To understand what’s in it for conservative Democratic senators who play the party’s rotating villain role, look at those who came before them: Many of those who do big business’ bidding and then either fail to win reelection or retire quickly end up scoring lucrative careers on K Street. It’s the ultimate win-win situation.
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They become corporate lobbyists, and they then use their connections with their colleagues that are still in office.

That's what Joe Crowley did after AOC primaried him, thus demonstrating what she said about him during her primary campaign.

Sinema’s raking in cash from MLMs. They want to kill her party’s labor bill. - POLITICO - "The Arizona senator is one of just a few lawmakers that multilevel marketing businesses —often derided as pyramid schemes — are giving to."
They've been derided as spruced up pyramid schemes: Companies that incentivize their own customers to become salespeople for products. Now, these so-called multilevel marketing businesses are flexing their political muscle. And they're turning to one lawmaker in particular to protect their agenda: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
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Companies like Amway.
 
5 Dems are most important holdouts as Pelosi tries to jam through reconciliation bill with no CBO score | Fox News - "Some Democrats demanding full CBO score, others say White House analysis and Joint Committee on Taxation score are enough"

Seems like foot-dragging to me.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Jared Golden, D-Maine, Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Ed Case, D-Hawaii, all signed a letter Tuesday demanding 72 hours to review the final bill text, "the proper CBO/JCT scoring information" and clearance with the Senate that the bill will not be changed once the House passes it.

There is a Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) score for the bill, but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released nothing, and it's not clear when it will.
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I checked their most recent ideology scores at govtrack.us (0 = liberal, 1 = conservative) -- Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. 0.64, Jared Golden, D-Maine 0.46, Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla. 0.47, Kurt Schrader, D-Ore. 0.45, and Ed Case, D-Hawaii 0.33. Rep. Gottheimer is the most conservative Democrat in the House.
 
Manu Raju on Twitter: "Henry Cuellar, a Blue Dog, ..." / Twitter
Henry Cuellar, a Blue Dog, told us there are enough moderates who would tank the procedural vote for the $1.75 trillion bill tonight, saying the rule "is not going to pass" if it comes up.

"As of right now, there are enough votes in my opinion to vote no on the rule.”

He said there are outstanding issues to resolve first. But Cuellar said there has been a lack of trust caused by broken promises of Democratic leaders.

"They told us they were not going to move this til they were not going to have 50 votes in the Senate. They also told us they were going to vote on BIF until Sept. 27. And here are they are," he said, referring the shorthand of the bipartisan infrastructure framework.”

"So the two things they told us have not been kept together -- so there certainly is a lack of trust among moderates,” Cuellar said
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Disappointing that Jessica Cisneros didn't succeed in primarying him last year.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Can’t wait for the full on slammed news cycle about how conservative Dems held up Biden’s bill the week of the elections for sudden demands for CBO scores and tax cuts for people with $1 million+ incomes 🙄 won’t hold my breath for it though" / Twitter
 
Looks like Infrastructure bill will go through. The mods better fulfill their part in a week.

GOP in near unison are voting against the bill. What a surprise.
 
It passes. Barely. Not by a single vote barely, but much much much closer than infrastructure bills usually ever do.

With 5 votes remaining, 6 Dems voted against and 13 GOP'ers voted for.

Now with it passed, the GOP is trying a motion to reconsider. What a bunch of dumbasses.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
It passes. Barely. Not by a single vote barely, but much much much closer than infrastructure bills usually ever do.
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Good! What is the status of B3 (aka Spendapalooza)?

With 5 votes remaining, 6 Dems voted against and 13 GOP'ers voted for.
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May I hazard a guess that the Dems voting Nay are Sergeant Sandy and her squadmates?
 
House passes $555 billion infrastructure bill, sends legislation to Biden's desk
The funding package, which passed 228 to 206 and relied on Republican votes to get across the finish line, will ramp up government spending on roads, bridges and airports, as well as funding for public transit, water and broadband.

Six Democrats voted against the measure and 13 Republicans voted in favor. The Democratic opposition was progressive members who were unhappy that the bill was being voted on before passage of a $1.75 trillion social safety net spending bill.

The vote hands Biden a victory on a major bipartisan bill, but one that took months to get through Congress and revealed deep divisions in the Democratic Party. The Senate approved the bill in August before it stalled for months as House progressives clashed with Democratic centrists on a $1.75 trillion social safety net measure that could get a vote later this month.
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No details on the vote at http://clerk.house.gov - I'll have to check tomorrow.
 
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