You knew it was coming because he is, after all, a Democrat. And a louse, but that hardly sets him off from his colleagues in either party.

a parliament of whores

Manchin caves, Build Back Better is back, but not for better.

Sen. Joe Manchin announced Wednesday that he came to an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on a reconciliation bill, after more than a year of negotiations among Democrats.

Democrats are using a process called budget reconciliation to advance the legislation, which allows them to get around the Senate filibuster with just 50 votes. As long as all Democrats avoid catching COVID-19 and are present and able to vote for the bill, they likely have the votes to get the legislation across the finish line. 

Manchin said in his statement that the bill will have a minimum 15% tax on companies worth more than $1 billion and invests in several forms of energy, including fossil fuel, nuclear and renewables. This is on top of agreements Democrats previously came to on prescription drugs and extending subsidies included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

"I now propose and will vote for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Rather than risking more inflation with trillions in new spending, this bill will cut the inflation taxes Americans are paying, lower the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs, and ensure our country invests in the energy security and climate change solutions," Manchin said. 

What a chump:

President Biden, Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi have committed to advancing a suite of commonsense permitting reforms this fall," he also said. 

If Manchin really believes that those three lying enemies of the energy industry are going to honor a “commitment” to ease the regulatory chokehold on mining and drilling activities, he’s the dumbest hillbilly to ever crawl out of the holler in West Va.

And here's the Big Lie — this won’t add to the deficit, it will reduce it!

According to Schumer's and Manchin's offices, the bill will raise $739 billing in revenue through IRS tax enforcement, the corporate minimum tax, IRS tax enforcement and closing the carried interest loophole. It will spend $433 billion total, they said, on energy and climate change provisions and on the ACA extension. 

Tax enforcement never raises anywhere near the number politicians promise in order to make their spending look like it’s paying for itself, and spending bills never fail to cost far more than promised. And to the extent that a minimum corporate tax diverts money that would have been spent by companies on investing in new equipment and manufacturing facilities, and instead diverts it to Washington to be spent by politicians, it’s a lose-lose proposition. Stripping money from the private sector and using it to fund new social welfare programs is never an “investment”, as these charlatans insist on describing it (just as they adore calling for “common sense” gun laws, green energy boondoggles, and, as here, permitting reform); it’s just more useless, unproductive spending.