Senate Democrats are celebrating the passage of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) surprise energy, healthcare, and tax deal.
Schumer squeezed the Inflation Reduction Act, which was thought to be dead due to opposition from Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), through the Senate with an all-night “vote-a-rama” and talked about the sleepless win in a press conference Sunday afternoon. The spending plan, which focused on climate, health, and business taxation, passed with all 50 Democratic votes and Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.
SENATE PASSES INFLATION REDUCTION ACT AFTER ALL-NIGHT VOTE SERIES
After reveling in his victory at the presser, Schumer tweeted: “This is a great day,” to which Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) replied: “Yes it is, my friend!”
The two were far from the only Senate Democrats who felt that way about passing the most significant carbon reduction bill in U.S. history.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) choked up and got teary-eyed when talking about the nearly $400 billion bill that he and his party voted to allocate to addressing carbon emissions and incentivizing renewable energy.
“This is a planetary emergency. This is the first time that the federal government has taken action that is worthy of the moment,” he told reporters upon leaving the final vote. “This is the biggest climate action that any country has ever taken.”
His voice broke when he added: “Now, I can look my kids in the eye and say we’re really doing something about the climate.”
Schatz tweeted: “Objectively this is a productive Congress.”
Speaking to CNN in an interview after the bill’s passage, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) called Democrats’ success: “a huge win for the American people. This is an enormous step forward for making prescription drugs affordable, for making healthcare sustainable, for making an enormous down payment on tackling climate change, and for reducing the deficit.”
Coons, a close Biden ally who sits in the president’s old Senate seat, said he believes the legislative win is “a great moment for Democratic unity, for responding to the calls and the protests and the marches from people young and old all over our country who’ve been urging us to take action on the climate, and for the millions and millions of families who have wondered what we’re going to do to make prescription drugs affordable.”
“This tackles those big challenges and delivers a real answer,” he continued.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) told reporters after the bill was passed that he is “so proud of these Democrats,” who “cast a really gutsy vote when we started this off in the early summer of 2021.”
“Oh yes we did — oh, yes we did!! Fended off dozens of dangerous amendments; pulled an audible to repair the one that went south on us; hung together, and did something REALLY BIG!!!” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) gleefully tweeted, referencing Democrats’ struggles to push a reconciliation bill through the chamber. “It’s still sinking in but emotions are high. So many disappointments…and then this.”
The Inflation Reduction Act is a scaled-back alternative to “Build Back Better,” a sweeping social spending and green energy bill that Manchin killed last year when he objected to its price tag and raised concerns over inflation. The new agreement, made in private between Manchin and Schumer, survived a “vote-a-rama” in the Senate over the weekend, in which lawmakers were able to propose amendments to the bill.
Despite most preferring the original Build Back Better bill, Senate Democrats have largely rallied around the Manchin-approved deal, which they’ve argued would decrease inflation and not raise taxes on average people while still tackling parts of the party’s energy, healthcare, and tax reform agendas. Republicans, meanwhile, have said the new legislation will raise taxes on low-income people and cause a spike in inflation, even if temporarily.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) revealed on Twitter that he celebrated his party’s victory “by getting take out Chinese food.” He included a picture of the fortune from his fortune cookie, which read: “You deserve to have a good time after a hard day’s work.”
“We’re getting things done — tackling the climate crisis in the area of agriculture,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) told reporters later Sunday.
“This is a real moment to support rural communities with agriculture and forest farmers and foresters who have the capacity and want to play an even larger roll in tackling the climate crisis,” she said. “So there’s very significant support for them to do that.”
