Friday's Energy Absurdity of the Day: Sinema Seals Manchin's Deal.
[Follow me on Twitter at @EnergyAbsurdity]
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema got her way late Thursday evening, trading her vote in favor of the Orwellian-named Manchin/Schumer “Inflation Reduction Act” in exchange for tax changes that mainly protect private equity billionaires.
"We have agreed to remove the carried interest tax provision, protect advanced manufacturing, and boost our clean energy economy in the Senate’s budget reconciliation legislation," Sinema said in a statement, adding that she would move forward with the legislation following a review by the Senate's parliamentarian - who will rule on whether certain elements in the bill can meet strict budget reconciliation rules.
Specifically, Sinema’s negotiated changes include:
A 1 percent excise tax on stock buybacks for publicly traded corporations;
Modifications to loosen the 15% corporate book minimum tax by allowing at least some depreciation and investment expensing to count in calculating the tax;
Elimination of the carried interest provision in the initial draft of the bill.
And so, AOC’s Green New Deal gets another round of funding, and the wind, solar and EV industries get another few hundred billion dollars of federal rents to seek.
No one should blame Sinema for caving in here. Once Manchin pulled his traditional capitulation act with Schumer, the pressure on Sinema to join him was bound to become too overwhelming for any politician to withstand. That she would ultimately give in was inevitable; the only real question was what she would be able to get in return.
Now we know what she got: Protections for billionaires in exchange for more taxes that will ultimately be borne by consumers.
Like Manchin, she is a Democrat, after all.
That is all.
Re-name this act the "Inflation is For the Little People Act of 2022"
Everyone in that picture is a traitor to the American people.