Congressional Democrats and the White House reportedly plan to actually piece together and publish a reconciliation spending bill as early as this week and the biggest obstacle to accomplishing that are centrist senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
But we have some good news.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema has reportedly agreed to raising taxes on corporations and the rich to pay for spending somewhere in the realm of $2 trillion.
The Arizona Democrat -- who has opposed raising rates on corporations and individuals -- will back ways of increasing revenue from domestic corporations, global companies, high net-worth individuals and through tax enforcement, according to the person who requested anonymity because the talks are private.
The tax changes would provide enough revenue to fund the roughly $2 trillion package Democrats are pursuing on climate, health and early childhood programs.
Meanwhile, President Biden personally hosted Senator Joe Manchin at his home in Delaware over the weekend where Manchin apparently agreed to increase taxes by enough to fund a package that size or close to it.
Biden huddled with the conservative West Virginia Democrat Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the president’s Delaware home on Sunday as they work on resolving the disputes between centrists and progressives that have stalled the Democrats’ wide-ranging bill. A person who insisted on anonymity to discuss Manchin’s position told The Associated Press the senator is agreeable to the White House’s new approach on the tax proposals. [...]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that even at “half” the original $3.5 trillion proposed, Biden’s signature domestic initiative would be larger than any other legislative package with big investments in health care, child care and strategies to tackle climate change.
“It is less than what was projected to begin with, but it’s still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America’s working families,” Pelosi said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
It's reassuring to see congressional leaders start making the same point that I have made; that even a smaller bill will still be the biggest thing that any of them have ever voted for. It's not going to be $3.5 trillion, but it will still total as much as $3 trillion when combined with the bipartisan infrastructure spending bill.
I'm at least a little skeptical that Democrats will present and start moving a bill this week, but the time is now. Next week we'll be talking about a possible government shutdown and default on the debt ceiling. Again.