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Sen. Kirsten Sinema said Thursday that she will “move forward” with the Democrats’ tax and welfare spending bill, after earlier abandoning the deal reached by Sen. Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“We agreed to eliminate the carried interest tax provision, protect advanced manufacturing and boost our economy with clean energy in the Senate’s budget reconciliation legislation,” said Sinema, D-Ariz. “Depending on the parliamentarian’s review, I will go ahead.”
Sen. Kirsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said in a statement Thursday that she would “move forward” with the Democratic reconciliation bill. (REUTERS/Caitlin O’Hara)
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Sinema was widely seen as the last senator Democrats needed to push through the climate, energy, health care and tax plan, which, if it becomes law, would cap more than a year of intra-party negotiations. With her support, Schumer said he expects all 50 Democrats to vote for the measure.
“I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act which I believe will have the support of the entire Senate Democratic Conference,” Schumer said. “The final version of the reconciliation bill that will be introduced on Saturday will reflect that work and bring us one step closer to passing this historic legislation into law.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., speaks to a reporter during a press conference on the Democratic reconciliation bill. (Tyler Olson/Fox News)
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Democrats plan to pass the legislation using a process called budget reconciliation, which allows them to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to pass legislation along party lines. Manchin killed a previous reconciliation effort last year, at the time called “Building Better,” which was far more expansive than the bill he proposed with Schumer last week.
Schumer announced Thursday that the Senate would reconvene on Saturday afternoon with a vote plan to begin debate on the bill. If all 50 Democrats in the Senate support the bill and remain healthy and able to vote, they will be able to pass it despite vocal GOP objections.
Vice President Harris could break ties with any 50-50 vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., scored a major victory Thursday when Sen. Kirsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said he would “move forward” with the Democratic reconciliation bill. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The biggest problem Republicans say they see in the bill are the tax hikes, the burden of which the Joint Committee on Taxation would fall indirectly on Americans in nearly every tax bracket. The increases will also hit manufacturing businesses hard, Republicans say, just after the Senate passed a bill to boost U.S. manufacturing.
The legislation is expected to spend a total of $433 billion and raise $739 billion in tax revenue.
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“The people who work in these companies and remember that half of this is going to fall on the manufacturers, they’re going to see their wages and benefits cut because of this taxation at a time when they’re really struggling to make ends meet inflation,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
Another hurdle Democrats are awaiting results from is a review by Senate Rep. Elizabeth McDonough, who is currently reviewing legislation to comply with the Byrd Rule. This rule states that the provisions of a reconciliation bill must generally relate to taxes and government spending and cannot be direct policy prescriptions. However, the results of her review are not expected to doom the bill.
After Democrats vote to begin consideration of the bill, they will also have to go through a “frame vote,” when senators are allowed to propose unlimited amendments to the legislation. This usually results in dozens of votes on amendments in a marathon session that can last most of the day. But if Democrats stay united, they control whether the bill passes, despite the GOP’s best efforts.
Tyler Olson covers politics for Fox News Digital. You can reach him at tyler.olson@fox.com and follow him on Twitter at @TylerOlson1791.
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