Senate PASSES Biden-backed $740billion reconciliation bill with no Republican support

Republicans have warned that ‘Democrats will pay the price in November’ after it passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and launched an ‘economic assault on the American middle class.’

The GOP blasted progressive leadership over the $740 billion climate change and healthcare spending bill that has been the result of months-long talks within the Democratic Party.

No Republican lawmakers signed onto the bill, though Senate Democrats were able to pass it via a simple majority through the budget reconciliation process.  

It’s a major win for Democrats’ agenda, whose prospects in the looming midterm elections had looked dim for months.

However, conservatives criticized the move, alleging Democrats were ‘reckless’ by passing the bill as the US battles a 41-year high inflation rate and looming recession.   

Republicans have accused Democrats of misleading the American public with the legislation’s name, claiming it won’t help sky-high inflation and citing a study that says it could increase taxes on every income bracket. 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) slammed the Democrats for passing the estimated $740 billion bill, increases taxes and decreasing energy production ahead of what analysts say is an inevitable recession.

‘The Democrats’ reckless tax and spending plan includes nearly $370 billion to fund the Green New Deal, $64 billion for Obamacare, and hundreds of billions in new taxes on American businesses and manufacturers,’ Blackburn penned in a heated Twitter rant. 

‘The spending spree also includes $80 billion to double the number of IRS agents — practically giving every American a personalized tax auditor. We should be cutting taxes, not increasing them.’

‘It is a shame that Senate Democrats have forced through a socialist agenda that will make life more difficult and expensive for Tennesseans,’ she added.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida called the bill a ‘war on seniors’ during an interview on CBS News’ Face The Nation and claimed it would raise Medicare costs.

‘Right now, this bill actually ought to be called the war on seniors act. I mean, this is a war on Medicare. If you look at this. This is a $280 billion cut in Medicare,’ Scott said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) compared the bill to a ‘give-away to the Democrats’ radical leftist base at the expense of middle-class Americans.’

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) called raising taxes during both a recession and inflation ‘a special kind of stupid.’

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell blasted Democrats’ policies, including this latest bill, as having ‘torn down the savings, the stability, and the lifestyles that families worked and sacrificed for years to build up’ in a statement after the vote.

‘Democrats have proven over and over they simply do not care about middle-class families’ priorities. They have spent 18 months proving that. They just spent hundreds of billions of dollars to prove it again,’ he said. 

Looking ahead to November’s midterm elections, McConnell warned: ‘The working Americans they have failed will be writing Democrats’ report cards in three months’ time.’ 

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, warned: ‘Democrats will pay the price in November for raising taxes on families during a recession.’ 

Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said, ‘This will only drive our economy further into recession and will be detrimental to all hard-working Kansans who will continue to see steep prices for gasoline, groceries, rent, and it’s going to kill jobs.’ 

Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided chamber as Democrats erupted into applause at the end of their 16-hour session.

A visibly emotional Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor to thank everyone from Congressional staffers to the Capitol cafeteria workers for aiding the effort, telling them: ‘You’ll tell your grandchildren you were here.’

Lawmakers had been debating the package since 11 p.m. on Saturday, and continued into late afternoon on Sunday without stopping.

President Joe Biden lauded its passage in a statement and called on the House of Representatives to approve it as well – after which he can sign it into law.

‘Today, Senate Democrats sided with American families over special interests, voting to lower the cost of prescription drugs, health insurance, and everyday energy costs and reduce the deficit, while making the wealthiest corporations finally pay their fair share,’ Biden said.

‘I ran for President promising to make government work for working families again, and that is what this bill does – period.’

Meanwhile Democrat Sen. Chris Coons of Connecticut admitted on ABC News’ This Week that the bill could take ‘a year or more’ to cut inflation. 

‘But, look…we’ve seen gas prices come down week after week after week for the last five weeks in a row,’ Coons defended. 

‘Yes, inflation is higher than it should be, but we just got a robust jobs number, more than 500,000 jobs created in this past month. Unemployment’s the lowest it’s been in my lifetime. And I think we’ve got a strong economy, a strong recovery underway.’

The climate change and healthcare bill, which includes roughly $433 billion in new spending, was hatched out in secretive talks between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin.

The final bill passed with an amendment by Senate GOP Whip John Thune that would make exceptions to the 15 percent minimum corporate tax rate. 

‘Just successfully blocked Democrat leadership’s attempt to sneak a tax hike on already struggling small businesses into their reckless tax-and-spending bill,’ Thune wrote online after his amendment was approved in a 57 to 43 vote. 

Earlier on Sunday, Senate Republicans had successfully forced Democrats to remove a provision in their package that would have capped the price of insulin for all Americans at just $35.

Senators have been inside the US Capitol from Saturday night through Sunday morning voting on dozens of amendments to Democrats’ spending bill, in a lengthy process known as a vote-a-rama.

Democrats had left the insulin cap in the bill despite the Senate parliamentarian ruling that it violates rules of the budget reconciliation process by which the legislation is being passed. 

Republicans raised a point-of-order on Sunday, forcing a floor-wide vote on whether to overrule the parliamentarian. 

The measure ultimately fell three votes short of the 60-vote threshold needed. Forty-three lawmakers voted to strike the price cap down.

‘3 GOP votes is all it took to cap insulin at $35,’ Progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego wrote on Twitter, lamenting the defeat.

‘The sad part is the GOP could have voted yes on this amendment and voted no on the whole bill and people would have affordable insulin. But let’s be honest they just wanted to be assholes.’

But GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin accused Democrats of legislative trickery by deliberately defying the Senate parliamentarian.

‘Lying Dems and their friends in corporate media are at it again, distorting a Democrat “gotcha” vote,’ Johnson stated.

‘In reality, the Dems wanted to break Senate rules to pass insulin pricing cap instead of going through regular order. They put this in a bill it wasn’t allowed in, all for show.’

The seven Republican senators who voted to keep the insulin cap are: Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, Cindy Hyde-Smith, John Kennedy, Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.

‘Republicans just blocked us from capping the price of insulin for all Americans at $35 a month,’ Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wrote on Twitter. ‘We’ve already seen far too many people risk their lives and health by rationing insulin they can’t afford. It’s unconscionable that we’re letting this tragedy continue.’

The package contains roughly $740 billion in new revenue proposals and $433 billion in new spending.

It includes more funding for IRS enforcement, a 15 percent minimum corporate tax, and empowers Medicare to negotiate for lower drug costs.  

The package also marks $369 billion for energy security and climate change and $64 billion to extend health care subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.

It leaves $300 billion to reduce the deficit. 

Despite Democrat loses on insulin prices and the corporate minimum tax, the bill largely withstood Republican attempts at carving out amendments for border security, crime, domestic fossil fuel production and other GOP-led issues.