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JULY
**15, 2022**
Dayen on TAP
May Build Back Better Never Be Spoken Of Again
Negotiations with Joe Manchin are over. Let's keep it that way.
In the end, having to negotiate with a coal baron on transitioning away
from fossil fuels was not the most reliable option.
As you and the rest of the world know by now, Joe Manchin walked away
from adding climate measures or tax increases to any party-line
reconciliation package. What was once a transformative,
multitrillion-dollar agenda to face numerous long-standing crises in
domestic policy has narrowed to an exceptionally narrow drug price
reform, the main part of which-price negotiation in
Medicare-doesn't kick in until 2026, two years after the next
presidential election, and a two-year extension on ACA subsidies that
were set to expire at the end of the year. Eighteen months of fruitless
negotiation has come down to that.
There's going to be a ton to say about this in the coming days, and
we're certainly going to say it. We're going to note that
progressives who said that the social-spending and infrastructure plans
had to be tied together or else the social spending wouldn't happen
were proven entirely correct. We're going to reinforce that Manchin
was never a viable partner in this enterprise, something that we've
known for at least this entire year. We're going to note that the
Trump tax cuts-opposed unanimously by every Democrat in or out of
Congress-are now looking incredibly likely to become permanent,
without much of a fight. We're going to try and draw lessons out of
the policy and governance structures of the Democratic Party that led to
this utter failure. We're going to once again highlight, as we have
for three years
,
the importance of executive action as the main path forward for progress
in Washington. (The states are a different matter, and we'll talk
about that, too.)
But first things first. Staring us in the face is this health policy
bill that by all accounts has the support of all 50 Democratic senators.
That should be passed the moment that those 50 senators are physically
available to cast a vote in the chamber.
Manchin made a play at walking back his comments
on local radio
today, saying that climate measures weren't dead, that he just wants
to see one more inflation report
, just one
more set of data, before coming back and hammering something out in
September. Humoring him would be a colossal mistake. Manchin has shown
the world who he is; Chuck Schumer spending one more second in a room
with him would be absurd. If he wants to go down in history as the man
responsible for the diminishment of life on Earth, that's between him
and his network of coal companies
.
What we're left with on the table isn't great, but it is, and this
is a low bar, a lot better than nothing. The drug price reform is narrow
and pinched and limited mostly to seniors and it still saves nearly $300
billion in Medicare costs, plus a lot more for individual patients.
Extending the ACA subsidies prevents the self-own October surprise
of a spike in insurance premiums. Yes, a two-year extension sets up the
same brinkmanship and potential premium spike before the presidential
election, but Republicans will share some of the blame for that if they
control the House and/or Senate, and a presidential race could be a
better stage for highlighting that issue.
Most important, stopping the will-they-or-won't-they is an absolute
political imperative. The party is exhausted by failure, and won't
hold out for another couple months of wishes and hopes. Eighteen months
of Joe Manchin being America's most well-known Democrat is enough.
Just put the bill on the floor and get this over with. Get something
completed, and spend the August recess thinking about how we got here.
~ DAVID DAYEN
Follow David Dayen on Twitter
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Polling: Nation Feeling Crisis of Confidence
New surveys provided exclusively to the Prospect show that Americans
agree with the words Jimmy Carter spoke on this day 43 years ago. BY
DAVID DAYEN
Biden Should Not Trade Executive Actions for Mythical Senate Promises
The president's proposal to restart fossil fuel projects would
abdicate his responsibility to ensure the laws are faithfully executed.
BY DOROTHY SLATER & TONI AGUILAR ROSENTHAL
Altercation: Do We Really Need to Appreciate Coup Expertise?
CNN's interview with self-proclaimed coup-meister John Bolton,
assessing the January 6th insurrection, airily passed over some horrific
U.S. misdeeds. BY ERIC ALTERMAN
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