(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) After gaining headlines for her tough talk on deficit reduction and protecting taxpayers, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., announced Thursday night that she was joining ranks with the formerly rational Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in backing a Democrat spending spree that splurges upwards of $740 billion as part of a radical, social-engineering green energy agenda that will raise taxes on the middle class and low-income earners.
Sinema said her decision to support the package was triggered by an agreement to remove a provision raising taxes on carried-interest paid by billionaires like her private equity silver-spoon buddies.
Democrats have the numbers needed with Sinema on board to ram the $740-billion “gangreen” package through budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority to avoid a Republican filibuster.
In response to Sinema’s taxing pronouncement, a group of 22 Republican governors, led by South Carolina’s Henry McMaster and Georgia’s Brian Kemp, issued a blistering indictment of what they called “another reckless tax and spending spree.”
“Our citizens cannot afford Joe Biden’s broken promises on taxes and Democrats’ inflationary spending that will only exacerbate the economic crisis they created,” the governors wrote.
“While denying recession, Democrats want to raise taxes on businesses and manufacturers, which will force higher costs onto consumers, worsen inflation, and aggravate shortages.”
The so-called Inflation Reduction Act will do virtually nothing to reduce inflation until 2031 at the earliest, and then only by about 0.33%, according to nearly every leading economist.
An enormous chunk of the $740-billion package will be used to fund parts of the radical Green New Deal, to the tune of nearly $370 billion. It also includes a new 15% minimum tax on large corporations, and aims to lower prescription drug costs and fund health insurance subsidies for COVID.
The leftist legislation will also hike taxes on millions of low-income and middle-class earners making less than $400,000 annually, according the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
“Have you EVER heard of an economy being TAXED into prosperity?” asked conservative firebrand Kathy Barnette. “I haven’t”
Apparently Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has.
“I am pleased to report that we have reached an agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act that I believe will receive the support of the entire Senate Democratic conference,” he crowed in a statement.
Schumer said he expects the Senate to begin voting on the $740-billion package no later than Saturday, with passage in the Democrat-controlled House next week.
More of the Biden administration’s failing agenda and recession-inducing policies will follow, warned the GOP governors, which included Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin, South Dakota’s Kristi Noem and Florida’s Ron DeSantis.
“The Democrats’ solution to 40-year high inflation is passing another reckless tax and spending spree to the tune of $740 billion, affecting Americans in every tax bracket,” they wrote in their joint letter opposing the legislation.
“With sky high prices at the pump, the last thing Americans need is for Democrats to punish energy producers, which will ultimately hurt working families struggling to pay for gas, goods, food, and utilities.”
