Democrats say the climate and tax bill will help win over a skeptical electorate in November, as Republicans try to galvanize their base against a progressive wish list.
Vulnerable incumbent Democratic senators like Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada are already planning events promoting the landmark legislation they passed over the weekend. Democratic ad makers are busily preparing a barrage of commercials about it across key battlegrounds. And the White House is set to deploy Cabinet members on a nationwide sales pitch.
The sweeping legislation, covering climate change and prescription drug prices, which came together in the Senate after more than a year of painfully public fits and starts, has kicked off a frenetic 91-day sprint to sell the package by November — and win over an electorate that has grown skeptical of Democratic rule.
For months, Democrats have discussed their midterm anxieties in near-apocalyptic terms, as voters threatened to take out their anger over high gas prices and soaring inflation on the party in power. But the deal on the broad new legislation, along with signs of a brewing voter revolt over abortion rights, has some Democrats experiencing a flicker of an unfamiliar feeling: hope. …
… In interviews, Democratic strategists, advisers to President Biden, lawmakers running in competitive seats and political ad makers all expressed optimism that the legislation — the Inflation Reduction Act — would deliver the party a necessary and powerful tool to show they were focused on lowering costs at a time of economic hardship for many. They argued its key provisions could be quickly understood by crucial constituencies.
“It is easy to talk about because it has a real impact on people every day,” Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, the White House deputy chief of staff, said in an interview. The measure must still pass the House and could come up for a vote there later this week. “It’s congressional Democrats who’ve gotten it done — with no help from congressional Republicans.”
For younger voters, who polls have shown to be cool to Mr. Biden and his party, the package contains the most sweeping efforts to address climate change in American history. For older voters, the deal includes popular measures sought for decades by Democrats to rein in the price of prescription drugs for seniors on Medicare. And for both the Democratic base and independents, the deal cuts against the Republican argument that a Democratic-controlled Washington is a morass of incompetence and gridlock unfocused on issues that affect average Americans. …
Indeed, in recent days, Democrats pulled ahead of Republicans for the first time this year when voters were asked which party they would prefer to control Congress — the so-called generic ballot test — according to polling averages maintained by the data-journalism website FiveThirtyEight.
There is no guarantee of success in selling the bill. Last year, the White House shepherded through a rare bipartisan infrastructure deal. But its passage, which drew great fanfare in Washington, did little to arrest the continual decline in Mr. Biden’s approval ratings — and many Americans were still unaware that the measure passed months later, polling showed. …
The new corporate minimum tax is not law yet and is already rife with exceptions for the businesses that might have to pay it. …
… The Joint Committee on Taxation had estimated that the new corporate minimum tax would apply to 150 companies, but that was before more exceptions were added to the legislation. The tax was projected to raise more than $300 billion in new revenue over a decade, but the slimmed-down version is likely to raise just over $200 billion. …
1. It’s a start on climate change. But lots more action still needed. The US will spend $369 billion over 10 years. Sounds like a lot. But the US also just passed a veterans bill that will spend $280 billion for health care. And the semi conductor bill just passed also allocates $280 billion. For an existential problem like climate change we are only getting started financially.
2. The Democrats wasted a year on this. Joe Manchin told Chuck Schumer over a year ago that his topline was $1.5 trillion. And Krysten Sinema made it clear that she would not vote for most tax increases. Perhaps Bernie Sanders is not the best choice of Democrats for Senate Budget Chair. One, he is not a Democrat. Two, he doesn’t represent the median Democratic Senator. He did not appear to be able to make a deal with Manchin and Sinema.
3. The Medicare provisions may prove to be the best piece. Big Pharma has finally lost a battle. While the initial drugs subject to negotiation are limited, this could be expanded quickly at a later date. The $2000 annual cap is easy to sell. The DSCC and DCCC should be on air today with ads about the Medicare provisions.
4. The $80 billion for IRS expansion is huge. Included in audits should be all the fraudulent PPP loans that were made over the past two years.
5. Bill Gates was a big IRA supporter, especially the climate pieces. It’s time for Gates to get off his ass and start supporting the Democratic Party with very hefty contributions. There needs to be some help to counter the Uhleins, etc on the other side. And maybe Ms. Mackenzie Scott too.
Ten drugs to negotiate in the beginning is small. Three years out is too long. Which drug will they pick? Humira is the most costly drug and has been out for a while. R&D costs should have been recouped by now. If you look at the latest I put up, you will see a list of the top fifty drugs. Which one do you think would be worthy?
Repubs are against capping Insulin charges. More later as this unfolds.
The 10 drugs chosen will probably be a political decision based on consumer numbers, pharma company, etc. We saw last year how the one new Alzheimer drug pushed our Medicare premium up by probably ten dollars a month.
The immediate provision that will help is the one about limiting any drug price increase to be lower than the inflation rate. This might turn out to be very helpful.
Which Inflation Rate? All prescription and over-the-counter drugs inflation rate as of December 2021 is 1.42%.
The ICER calculates if a company is overcharging by adding 2% to the “All prescription and over-the-counter drugs rate of 1.42%. From there, it will determine pricing. It also asks companies to submit documentation supporting any pricing exceeding the 2% + the “prescription and over-the-counter drugs medical CPI rate of 1.42%.
However none of this by the ICER and the government will take into account manufacturing costs which typically are far less than the sales price.
Should Pharma be allowed a price considering the inflation rate of the nation >11% (if that is what it is right now)?
(AP) — Former president Donald Trump will be questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation into his dealings as a real estate mogul, he confirmed in a post on his Truth Social account. …
The New York civil investigation, led by Attorney General Letitia James, involves allegations that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misstated the value of prized assets like golf courses and skyscrapers, misleading lenders and tax authorities.
“In New York City tonight. Seeing racist N.Y.S. Attorney General tomorrow, for a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, invoking his oft-repeated claims about James, who is Black, and the investigation.
“My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides,” Trump added. “Banana Republic!”
Messages seeking comment were left with James’ office and with Trump’s lawyer. …
(IMO, it seems that the DOJ may be trying to secure whatever classified material Trump may still be in possession of, and they determined that further subpoenas would not accomplish this, but outright seizure would – via a search warrant.
It happens that the federal law on improper possession of classified material includes a penalty that one who is guilty is denied the right to hold future office, so it is unlikely that Trump will be charged. But the documents will be secured.)
The FBI search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort has triggered a host of questions with potentially serious legal implications for Trump, legal experts said on Tuesday.
Much is still unknown about what Trump termed a “raid” on his residence, which is part of a federal investigation into whether he improperly took classified materials with him when he left the White House. But the decision to take the unprecedented step of searching an ex-president’s home would likely have required the sign off of top officials including Attorney General Merrick Garland as well as a federal judge, and would not have been taken lightly, former prosecutors said. …
What few details that are public come from Trump, who on Monday said in a statement that his Florida residence was “occupied by a large group of FBI agents” who “broke into my safe.” …
(AP) — Falling gas prices gave Americans a slight break from the pain of high inflation last month, though the surge in overall prices slowed only modestly from the four-decade high it reached in June.
Consumer prices jumped 8.5% in July compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, down from a 9.1% year-over-year jump in June. On a monthly basis, prices were unchanged from June to July, the smallest such rise more than two years.
Still, prices are spiking across a wide range of goods and services, leaving most Americans worse off. Average paychecks are rising faster than they have in decades — but not fast enough to keep up with accelerating costs for such items as food, rent, autos and medical services.
President Joe Biden has pointed to declining gas prices as a sign that his policies … are helping lessen the higher costs that have strained Americans’ finances, particularly for lower-income Americans and Black and Hispanic households.
Yet Republicans are stressing the persistence of high inflation as a top issue in the midterm congressional elections, with polls showing that elevated prices have driven Biden’s approval ratings down sharply. …
Inflation cooled notably in July as gas prices and airfares fell, a welcome reprieve for consumers and a positive development for economic policymakers in Washington — though not yet a conclusive sign that price increases have turned a corner.
The Consumer Price Index climbed 8.5 percent in the year through July, a slower pace than economists had expected and considerably less than the 9.1 percent increase in the year through June. After food and fuel costs are stripped out to better understand underlying cost pressures, prices climbed 5.9 percent, matching the previous reading.
The marked deceleration in overall inflation — on a monthly basis, prices barely moved — is another sign of economic improvement that could boost President Biden at a time when rapid price increases have been burdening consumers and eroding voter confidence. The new data came on the heels of an unexpectedly strong jobs report last week that underscored the economy’s momentum. …
The S&P 500 index rose 2.1 percent, regaining all the ground lost in declines recorded in the past four sessions, and then some. The rally pushed the index into positive territory for the month, extending the big gains recorded in July. The benchmark stock index now sits at its highest level since early May.
The expectation that inflation will begin to subside has helped improve investor sentiment recently, bolstered by signs that despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases, companies remain profitable and the jobs market is still in good shape. …
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland moved on Thursday to make public the warrant used in the F.B.I.’s search of former President Donald J. Trump’s residence in Florida — and said he had personally approved the search after “less intrusive” attempts to retrieve documents taken from the White House by Mr. Trump failed.
In a clipped, two-minute statement to reporters at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, Mr. Garland, who previously declined to comment on the search, said he decided to make a public statement because Mr. Trump had confirmed the action. The attorney general also cited the “surrounding circumstances” of the case and the “substantial public interest in this matter.”
Minutes before Mr. Garland took the podium, a top official in the Justice Department’s national security division filed a motion to unseal the warrant — along with an inventory of items retrieved in the search — redacted to prevent the release of national security information.
It is not clear how quickly the warrant and the other documents could be made public or whether Mr. Trump will object.
The former president’s lawyers have the opportunity to challenge the motion. His legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment. …
The Justice Department had sought the return of classified documents it believed might be at Mar-a-Lago before it sent F.B.I. agents this week to look for them.
Former President Donald J. Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents that federal investigators believed he had failed to turn over earlier in the year, when he returned boxes of material he had improperly taken with him upon moving out of the White House, three people familiar with the matter said.
The existence of the subpoena helps to flesh out the sequence of events that led to the search of Mr. Trump’s Florida home on Monday by F.B.I. agents seeking classified material they believed might still be there, even after efforts by the National Archives and the Justice Department to ensure that it had been returned.
The subpoena suggests that the Justice Department tried methods short of a search warrant to account for the material before taking the politically explosive step of sending F.B.I. agents unannounced to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s home and members-only club. …
With Deal in Hand, Democrats Enter the Fall Armed With Something New: Hope
NY Times – Aug 9
Alas …
How a Last-Minute Lobbying Blitz Watered Down a Climate Bill Tax
NY Times – Aug 8
Thoughts on the Inflation Reduction Act.
1. It’s a start on climate change. But lots more action still needed. The US will spend $369 billion over 10 years. Sounds like a lot. But the US also just passed a veterans bill that will spend $280 billion for health care. And the semi conductor bill just passed also allocates $280 billion. For an existential problem like climate change we are only getting started financially.
2. The Democrats wasted a year on this. Joe Manchin told Chuck Schumer over a year ago that his topline was $1.5 trillion. And Krysten Sinema made it clear that she would not vote for most tax increases. Perhaps Bernie Sanders is not the best choice of Democrats for Senate Budget Chair. One, he is not a Democrat. Two, he doesn’t represent the median Democratic Senator. He did not appear to be able to make a deal with Manchin and Sinema.
3. The Medicare provisions may prove to be the best piece. Big Pharma has finally lost a battle. While the initial drugs subject to negotiation are limited, this could be expanded quickly at a later date. The $2000 annual cap is easy to sell. The DSCC and DCCC should be on air today with ads about the Medicare provisions.
4. The $80 billion for IRS expansion is huge. Included in audits should be all the fraudulent PPP loans that were made over the past two years.
5. Bill Gates was a big IRA supporter, especially the climate pieces. It’s time for Gates to get off his ass and start supporting the Democratic Party with very hefty contributions. There needs to be some help to counter the Uhleins, etc on the other side. And maybe Ms. Mackenzie Scott too.
Jim:
Good comment.
Ten drugs to negotiate in the beginning is small. Three years out is too long. Which drug will they pick? Humira is the most costly drug and has been out for a while. R&D costs should have been recouped by now. If you look at the latest I put up, you will see a list of the top fifty drugs. Which one do you think would be worthy?
Repubs are against capping Insulin charges. More later as this unfolds.
Run,
The 10 drugs chosen will probably be a political decision based on consumer numbers, pharma company, etc. We saw last year how the one new Alzheimer drug pushed our Medicare premium up by probably ten dollars a month.
The immediate provision that will help is the one about limiting any drug price increase to be lower than the inflation rate. This might turn out to be very helpful.
Jim:
Which Inflation Rate? All prescription and over-the-counter drugs inflation rate as of December 2021 is 1.42%.
The ICER calculates if a company is overcharging by adding 2% to the “All prescription and over-the-counter drugs rate of 1.42%. From there, it will determine pricing. It also asks companies to submit documentation supporting any pricing exceeding the 2% + the “prescription and over-the-counter drugs medical CPI rate of 1.42%.
However none of this by the ICER and the government will take into account manufacturing costs which typically are far less than the sales price.
Should Pharma be allowed a price considering the inflation rate of the nation >11% (if that is what it is right now)?
(edited)
Keeping up with the former guy…
Trump says he’s testifying Wednesday in NY investigation
Boston Globe – Aug 10
In other news…
Mar-a-Lago search sparks questions about Trump’s potential legal peril
Boston Globe – Aug 9
(IMO, it seems that the DOJ may be trying to secure whatever classified material Trump may still be in possession of, and they determined that further subpoenas would not accomplish this, but outright seizure would – via a search warrant.
It happens that the federal law on improper possession of classified material includes a penalty that one who is guilty is denied the right to hold future office, so it is unlikely that Trump will be charged. But the documents will be secured.)
US inflation slips from 40-year peak but remains high 8.5 percent
Boston Globe – Aug 10
Inflation Cooled in July, Welcome News …
NY Times – Aug 10
Markets rise sharply, seizing on slower inflation numbers
The Dobbs Index is now down only 15% since the end of 2021.
Buying opportunities still abound!
AG Garland moves to make public the warrant and supporting documents used in the search of Mar-a-Lago
NY Times – Aug 11
Subpoena Preceded Search Warrant in Push to Retrieve Material From Trump