- Five former Treasury secretaries backed Manchin’s inflation-fighting bill in a statement Wednesday.
- The group includes secretaries from the George W. Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations.
- The secretaries urged Congress to pass the plan “immediately,” adding that it would help cool inflation.
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Senator Joe Manchin just won valuable new support for his plan to fight inflation.
A group of five former Treasury secretaries threw their support behind the Inflation Reduction Act in a statement Wednesday. The proposal, brokered by Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week, offers a path forward for part of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. The signatories include secretaries from both Democratic and Republican administrations, giving the plan bipartisan support that is unlikely to win in Congress.
Former Treasury Secretaries who support the proposal are:
- Larry Summers, who served under President Bill Clinton
- Robert Rubin, who served under President Bill Clinton
- Hank Paulson, who served under President George W. Bush
- Tim Geithner, who served under President Barack Obama
- Jacob Lew, who served under President Barack Obama
“This legislation will help increase American competitiveness, address our climate crisis, lower costs for families and fight inflation — and must be passed by Congress immediately,” the group said.
The statement comes as Democrats struggle to muster the support needed to pass the bill in the Senate. Sen. Kirsten Sinema of Arizona is the biggest unknown in the party ranks, and her position could either secure passage of the bill or reject it entirely. Sinema has not yet considered the measure, and the plan’s proposal to close the carried interest loophole could sway it against the bill. The Arizona senator has opposed closing the loophole in the past.
This set off a mad battle between Democrats and Republicans to win Sinema. Republicans pointed to projections by the Joint Committee on Taxation that suggested the proposed 15 percent minimum corporate tax rate for large, profitable companies would reach most Americans. Democrats, meanwhile, argue that the estimates don’t tell the whole story and that other aspects of the IRA would provide most Americans with a net financial benefit.
Other estimates tout the proposal as a boon for the US economy. The plan, if approved, “will push the economy and inflation in the right direction,” Moody’s Analytics said in a note on Monday. Analysts at the firm predict the plan will modestly cool price growth and boost economic output over the next decade. Disallowing IRAs, however, could exacerbate the inflation problem by allowing ACA credits to expire and burdening millions of Americans with higher health care costs.
If the finance minister’s statement is to change the minds of senators, there is not much time for that. The Senate is likely to vote on the plan later this week, and Manchin said he would personally present the IRA to Sinema in hopes of winning her over and sending the plan to Biden’s desk. But with the Senate approaching an August recess, the Arizona senator will have significantly less time to consider the plan than Manchin.
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