Amid reports last week that President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda may be on the rebound, a new report this week claims that the plan has been halted again by another moderate Democratic senator.
According to , Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has privately informed donors that the current effort to revive Biden’s expensive agenda is “unlikely,” a source said, which essentially killed any effort for congressional Democrats to hold a vote on a smaller bill by Memorial Day.
“One person familiar with the situation told the publication no one reached out to the senator with any outline of the slimmed-down Build Back Better bill that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has quietly discussed,” Breitbart News reported.
Rather, the Arizona Democrats is reportedly focused on the $10 billion COVID-19 relief measure, a so-called China competition bill, and the Electoral Reform Act.
Breitbart added:
However, if Senate Democrats hope to pass any part of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, they would need to have Sinema as well as Manchin on board since the upper chamber is split evenly 50-50, and their votes are required to pass legislation.
But, after Biden delivered his State of the Union address, indicating he could be willing to work with Manchin on a smaller package, Sinema indicated her view of the framework had not changed.
“Any new, narrow proposal — including deficit reduction — already has enough tax reform options to pay for it,” her spokesperson said in March.
“These reforms are supported by the White House, target tax avoidance and ensure corporations pay taxes, while not increasing costs on small businesses or everyday Americans already hurting from inflation,” Sinema’s spokesperson added.
Axios also noted that Sinema forced the White House to abandon plans to increase the current corporate tax rate, lowered to 21 percent under a law signed by then-President Donald Trump, to 26.5 percent, while raising the top individual rate from 37 percent to 39.5 percent.
She did, however, agree to the Biden plan to increase the global minimum and domestic tax rate for corporations to 15 percent.
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