Powerline by Scott Johnson 7/28/2022
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/07/say-it-aint-so-joe-2.phpYesterday Senators Schumer and Manchin announced they had arrived at an agreement on a slimmed down Build Back Better spenderama and tax package. This one is absurdly renamed an inflation fighter. How shameless can you get? How stupid do they think we are?
The Hill reported on the deal late yesterday afternoon here. Roll Call reported on it here.
Politico talked with Manchin for the story “Manchin’s latest shocker: A $700B deal.” Warning: The Politico story may induce nausea. Regurgitating the shamelessness of this package in its headline, the AP reports “What’s in, and out, of Democrats’ inflation-fighting package.” Warning: The AP story may induce nausea.
At RedState Nick Arama holds out hope that Senator Sinema may be a fly in the Democrats’ ointment (“Her office has said that she will need to review the text before she can comment”). I said somewhere along the line that if we were counting on Joe Manchin to hold the line we were in trouble. In the past few months I meant to profess error on that count. I don’t remember whether I did or not. Assuming I didn’t, it’s for the best. He is a pathetic specimen of homo politicus.
Does Kyrsten Sinema have more backbone than Joe Manchin? It apparently doesn’t take much and it is possible, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
