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Kyrsten Sinema Says She Will ‘Move Forward’ On The Economic Bill
(CTN News) – Democrat Kyrsten Sinema said she would “move forward” on Democrats’ ambitious economic package after party leaders agreed to change tax proposals at her request.
These changes have been the culmination of years of intensive negotiations.
With Sinema’s support, Democrats are likely to have 50 votes in their caucus by week’s end to pass the bill. Next week, it will go to the House for final approval
This bill, named the Inflation Reduction Act, is scaled down from Biden’s initial Build Back Better package. However, it represents one of the largest investments in energy and climate programs in US history.
It also extends expiring health insurance subsidies for three years, and gives Medicare pricing power for the first time. In order to pay for it, the legislation would impose new taxes.
Democratic lawmakers still face a major hurdle: Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough will need to decide if the provisions in the bill meet strict rules to allow the legislation to pass filibuster-proof.
Kyrsten Sinema indicated she was ready to vote to proceed after days of discussions with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“I will move forward after the Parliamentarian reviews the bill,” she said after more than a week of silence.
Kyrsten Sinema -High-Stakes Negotiations:
Earlier this week, top Senate Democrats actively discussed potential tax changes with Sinema in order to secure her support.
During private discussions, Sinema had expressed concern about key parts of the Democrats’ climate and health care package, including imposing a 15% tax minimum on high-profit corporations and closing the carried interest loophole, which allows investment managers to pay a lower tax rate on most of their compensation.
Consequently, Democrats were scrambling to find new revenue sources in order to save $300 billion over a decade.
Kyrsten Sinema is under heavy pressure
Kyrsten Sinema was not involved in the deal and only learned of it last week. According to her aides, she will wait until the Senate parliamentarian’s review is complete before commenting publicly on the deal.
According to multiple sources, she had made her demands clear to Democratic leaders, including adding $5 billion to help the Southwest cope with its multi-year drought.
The Democratic-led Senate Finance Committee released data on Thursday from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation demonstrating that up to 125 billion-dollar companies in 2019 paid an average tax rate of just 1.1%.
According to the committee, this shows that some companies are able to pay “rock-bottom tax rates.”
While billion-dollar companies avoid paying their fair share.
These rates are lower than the Democrats in the Senate could have imagined, said Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden. With our 15 percent minimum tax, we’re determined to stop it.”
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