Tag Archives: Vote-A-Rama

Senate Democrats pass Inflation Reduction Act; House to vote next

WASHINGTON D.C. — Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage Sunday, a hard-fought compromise less ambitious than President Joe Biden’s original domestic vision but one that still meets deep-rooted party goals of slowing global warming, moderating pharmaceutical costs and taxing immense corporations.

The estimated $740 billion package heads next to the House, where lawmakers are poised to deliver on Biden’s priorities, a stunning turnaround of what had seemed a lost and doomed effort that suddenly roared back to political life. Democrats held united, 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

“It’s been a long, tough and winding road, but at last, at last we have arrived,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ahead of final votes.

“The Senate is making history. I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative measures of the 21st century.”

Senators engaged in a round-the-clock marathon of voting that began Saturday and stretched late into Sunday afternoon. Democrats swatted down some three dozen Republican amendments designed to torpedo the legislation. Confronting unanimous GOP opposition, Democratic unity in the 50-50 chamber held, keeping the party on track for a morale-boosting victory three months from elections when congressional control is at stake.

“I think it’s gonna pass,” Biden told reporters as he left the White House early Sunday to go to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, ending his COVID-19 isolation. The House seemed likely to provide final congressional approval when it returns briefly from summer recess on Friday.

The bill ran into trouble midday over objections to the new 15% corporate minimum tax that private equity firms and other industries disliked, forcing last-minute changes.

Despite the momentary setback, the “Inflation Reduction Act” gives Democrats a c ampaign-season showcase for action on coveted goals. It includes the largest-ever federal effort on climate change – close to $400 billion – caps out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare to $2,000 a year and extends expiring subsidies that help 13 million people afford health insurance. By raising corporate taxes, the whole package is paid for, with some $300 billion extra revenue for deficit reduction.

Barely more than one-tenth the size of Biden’s initial 10-year, $3.5 trillion rainbow of progressive aspirations in his Build Back Better initiative, the new package abandons earlier proposals for universal preschool, paid family leave and expanded child care aid. That plan collapsed after conservative Sen. Joe. Manchin, D-W.Va., opposed it, saying it was too costly and would fuel inflation.

Nonpartisan analysts have said the “Inflation Reduction Act” would have a minor effect on surging consumer prices.

Republicans said the measure would undermine an economy that policymakers are struggling to keep from plummeting into recession. They said the bill’s business taxes would hurt job creation and force prices skyward, making it harder for people to cope with the nation’s worst inflation since the 1980s.

“Democrats have already robbed American families once through inflation, and now their solution is to rob American families a second time,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., argued. He said spending and tax increases in the legislation would eliminate jobs while having insignificant impact on inflation and climate change.

In an ordeal imposed on all budget bills like this one, the Senate had to endure an overnight “vote-a-rama” of rapid-fire amendments. Each tested Democrats’ ability to hold together a compromise negotiated by Schumer, progressives, Manchin and the inscrutable centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.

Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., offered amendments to further expand the legislation’s health benefits, and those efforts were defeated. Most votes were forced by Republicans and many were designed to make Democrats look soft on U.S.-Mexico border security and gasoline and energy costs, and like bullies for wanting to strengthen IRS tax law enforcement.

Before debate began Saturday, the bill’s prescription drug price curbs were diluted by the Senate’s nonpartisan parliamentarian. Elizabeth MacDonough, who referees questions about the chamber’s procedures, said a provision should fall that would impose costly penalties on drug makers whose price increases for private insurers exceed inflation.

It was the bill’s chief protection for the 180 million people with private health coverage they get through work or purchase themselves. Under special procedures that will let Democrats pass their bill by simple majority without the usual 60-vote margin, its provisions must be focused more on dollar-and-cents budget numbers than policy changes.

But the thrust of their pharmaceutical price language remained. That included letting Medicare negotiate what it pays for drugs for its 64 million elderly recipients, penalizing manufacturers for exceeding inflation for pharmaceuticals sold to Medicare and limiting beneficiaries out-of-pocket drug costs to $2,000 annually.

The bill also caps Medicare patients’ costs for insulin, the expensive diabetes medication, at $35 monthly. Democrats wanted to extend the $35 cap to private insurers but it ran afoul of Senate rules. Most Republicans voted to strip it from the package, though in a sign of the political potency of health costs seven GOP senators joined Democrats trying to preserve it.

The measure’s final costs were being recalculated to reflect late changes, but overall it would raise more than $700 billion over a decade. The money would come from a 15% minimum tax on a handful of corporations with yearly profits above $1 billion, a 1% tax on companies that repurchase their own stock, bolstered IRS tax collections and government savings from lower drug costs.

Sinema forced Democrats to drop a plan to prevent wealthy hedge fund managers from paying less than individual income tax rates for their earnings. She also joined with other Western senators to win $4 billion to combat the region’s drought.

Several Democratic senators joined the GOP-led effort to exclude some firms from the new corporate minimum tax.

The package keeps to Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on those earning less than $400,000 a year.

It was on the energy and environment side that compromise was most evident between progressives and Manchin, a champion of fossil fuels and his state’s coal industry.

Clean energy would be fostered with tax credits for buying electric vehicles and manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines. There would be home energy rebates, funds for constructing factories building clean energy technology and money to promote climate-friendly farm practices and reduce pollution in minority communities.

Manchin won billions to help power plants lower carbon emissions plus language requiring more government auctions for oil drilling on federal land and waters. Party leaders also promised to push separate legislation this fall to accelerate permits for energy projects, which Manchin wants to include a nearly completed natural gas pipeline in his state.

Copyright © 2022 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.



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Senate Democrats kill off amendments as vote-a-rama goes all night

Senate Democrats are killing off amendments to their climate, tax and health bill as part of a marathon, around-the-clock series of votes known as a vote-a-rama that started after 11 p.m. Saturday night and will stretch toward midday Sunday.

The Senate has not taken a break overnight, with senators from both parties mingling on the floor as they consider one amendment after another.

Most of the GOP amendments are intended to put Democrats on the spot on tough issues. If any were approved, it could also make the sweeping package more difficult to pass in the House at the end of the week.

The process was initially expected to last as long as 12 to 14 hours, with some optimistic observers wondering if it could wrap up more earlier if lawmakers exhausted one another with the overnight work.

Senators appeared relatively chipping after dawn broke Sunday morning, despite the grueling work. The vast majority of the did not appear to be getting fatigued.

At 6:30 a.m., the Senate was dispensing with an amendment from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on crime. Several more hours of votes were expected.

The vote-a-rama is a feature of the Senate budget process, which Democrats are using to pass a major climate, tax and health bill with 51 votes, bypassing a Republican filibuster. 

The budget reconciliation process allows the party in control of the Senate to pass major legislation with a simple-majority vote but the trade-off is Democrats must allow Republicans vote on an unlimited number of back-to-back amendments.  

Each side has only one minute to make an argument for or against an amendment before a vote is called.  

Votes on amendments that violate the Byrd Rule, which requires that legislation passed through the budget reconciliation process have a non-tangential impact on spending, revenues or the debt limit, are subject to procedural objections, which require 60 votes to be waived. 

Not all the votes have been on GOP amendments. 

The first amendment of the vote-a-rama is one sponsored by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), which would require Medicare not to pay more than what the Department of Veterans Affairs does for prescription drugs.  

It was defeated 1-99.

The last vote-a-rama the Senate held in August of 2021 to pass the budget resolution lasted 14 hours and included consideration of more than 40 amendments.  

Democratic senators say they expect this weekend’s vote-a-rama to last until 11 am or noon Sunday, judging by past experiences.  

Mychael Schnell contributed.

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Senate GOP gets short-lived win on unemployment fight

Senate Republicans are getting what’s expected to be a short-lived win in a fight over unemployment benefits in Democrats’ nearly $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill.

Sen. Joe ManchinJoseph (Joe) ManchinOvernight Defense: Capitol Police may ask National Guard to stay | Biden’s Pentagon policy nominee faces criticism | Naval Academy midshipmen moved to hotels Progressives won’t oppose bill over limits on stimulus checks Senate votes to take up COVID-19 relief bill MORE (D-W.Va.) voted with all 49 Republican senators — Sen. Dan SullivanDaniel Scott SullivanThe Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by The AIDS Institute – Finger-pointing on Capitol riot; GOP balks at Biden relief plan Sanders votes against Biden USDA nominee Vilsack Senate confirms Vilsack as Agriculture secretary MORE (Alaska) is absent due to a family emergency — in support of a proposal from Sen. Rob PortmanRobert (Rob) Jones PortmanMandel gets Club for Growth nod in Ohio Senate primary Rick Scott caught in middle of opposing GOP factions Five takeaways from dramatic Capitol security hearing MORE (R-Ohio) to provide a $300 per week unemployment payment through mid-July.

But Democrats are expected to strip out Portman’s amendment and replace it with a deal they announced on Friday night, after a nearly 12-hour delay, before they pass the coronavirus deal likely on Saturday.

Democrats are still waiting for a Joint Committee on Taxation score about the cost of the Democratic proposal, which would provide a $300 per week payment through Sept. 6.

“We expect Senator Portman to offer his UI amendment and for it to pass. However, it will be superseded by Senate Democrats’ new UI agreement, which will be offered and passed as an amendment tonight,” a Democratic aide said about the path forward.

Though Manchin supported Portman’s amendment, he’s also expected to support the Democratic deal. In addition to the weekly payment, the Democratic amendment will let the first $10,200 in unemployment benefits be tax free for households with incomes of up to $150,000.

“We have reached a compromise that enables the economy to rebound quickly while also protecting those receiving unemployment benefits from being hit with [an] unexpected tax bill next year,” Manchin said in a statement endorsing the Democratic deal.

Democrats effectively put the debate on the coronavirus bill on hold for nearly 12 hours Friday as they tried to craft an agreement on the unemployment payments that could win over the entire caucus.

Democrats had initially said on Friday morning that they had a deal to provide a $300 per week payment until early October.

But as they day dragged on it became clear that they were still trying to wrangle together the caucus.

Majority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerRon Johnson forces reading of 628-page Senate coronavirus relief bill on floor Senate panel splits along party lines on Becerra House Democrats’ ambitious agenda set to run into Senate blockade MORE (D-N.Y.) argued once the Senate moved forward just before 11 p.m. that Democrats were united.

“The agreement that’s been reached will allow us to move forward with the American Rescue Plan,” he said. “Senate Democrats are completely united in our belief about how important this entire bill is for our fellow Americans.”



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McConnell makes failed bid to adjourn Senate after hours-long delay

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellRon Johnson grinds Senate to halt, irritating many Klain on Harris breaking tie: ‘Every time she votes, we win’ How to pass legislation in the Senate without eliminating the filibuster MORE (R-Ky.) on Friday made a failed bid to adjourn the Senate and punt the debate on the Democratic coronavirus bill until Saturday.

McConnell’s move came after the Senate sat in limbo for nearly 12 hours on Friday as Democrats tried to work out a deal that could win over all 50 members of their caucus.

“They want to begin the vote-a-rama that could have been done in daylight because of their own confusion and the challenges of getting together 50 people to agree on something when they could have doing it quicker on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell said. “So rather than start the voting at five minutes to 11, I move to adjourn until 10 a.m.”

But Democrats were able to vote down the effort. In addition to controlling the majority, because Vice President Harris can break a tie, Republicans were also short a vote because Sen. Dan SullivanDaniel Scott SullivanThe Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by The AIDS Institute – Finger-pointing on Capitol riot; GOP balks at Biden relief plan Sanders votes against Biden USDA nominee Vilsack Senate confirms Vilsack as Agriculture secretary MORE (R-Alaska) flew home for a family emergency.

The effort to punt until Saturday comes after Democrats created a new record for the longest vote in modern Senate history when they left open a vote on Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersABC names new deputy political director, weekend White House correspondent Ron Johnson forces reading of 628-page Senate coronavirus relief bill on floor GOP pulling out all the stops to delay COVID-19 package MORE‘s (I-Vt.) minimum wage proposal for almost 12 hours.

Democrats left the vote open while they huddled in closed-door meetings to come up with an unemployment payment deal that moderate Sen. Joe ManchinJoseph (Joe) ManchinOvernight Defense: Capitol Police may ask National Guard to stay | Biden’s Pentagon policy nominee faces criticism | Naval Academy midshipmen moved to hotels Progressives won’t oppose bill over limits on stimulus checks Senate votes to take up COVID-19 relief bill MORE (D-W.Va.) could support.

Democrats announced that deal shortly before 8 p.m., but are still waiting on a Joint Committee on Taxation score.

Despite McConnell’s opposition, Senate Majority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerRon Johnson forces reading of 628-page Senate coronavirus relief bill on floor Senate panel splits along party lines on Becerra House Democrats’ ambitious agenda set to run into Senate blockade MORE (D-N.Y.) is pledging that the Senate will power through Friday night and likely into Saturday morning in order to wrap up the nearly $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

“Now that this agreement has been reached, we are going to power through the rest of the process and get this bill done,” he said. “Make no mistake: we are going to continue working until we get the job done.”



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