West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed on a $700 billion climate, tax and health care bill just days after Manchin shot down a similar plan, Politico reports.
Manchin earlier this month ruled out supporting a climate bill, arguing that it would fuel inflation. But Manchin and Schumer on Wednesday agreed to a similar deal that Manchin claims would fight inflation, calling it the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
The deal includes about $370 billion in energy and climate spending, three years of extended Obamacare subsidies, prescription drug reform, tax increases on corporations, and $300 billion in deficit reduction.
The bill is a far cry from the $3+ trillion deal sought by President Joe Biden and even lower than the $1 trillion plan previously embraced by Manchin.
McConnell got played:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threatened to kill a bill to provide billions in funding for computer chip makers to better compete with China amid supply shortages if Democrats moved ahead with their reconciliation plans.
Manchin announced that he would not support a climate deal but reversed hours after Senate Republicans officially voted in favor of the CHIPs bill.
McConnell lashed out over the deal on Wednesday.
“Democrats have already crushed American families with historic inflation. Now they want to pile on giant tax hikes that will hammer workers and kill many thousands of American jobs,” McConnell tweeted. “First they kill your family’s budget. Now they want to kill your job too.”
Deal not certain:
Though Manchin reached an agreement with Schumer, it’s not clear that the bill will certainly pass.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who also opposed key provisions in Biden’s Build Back Better proposal, has yet to sign off on the legislation, though the tax increases in the bill appear to be ones that she previously supported.
A group of House Democrats who insisted that the bill include a repeal of the Trump 2017 tax cut’s cap on state and local tax deductions, have also been noncommittal.
