The US Senate is in the final stages of passing a socialist spending bill, namely the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Due to the lack of support to pass the bill through the Senate filibuster, Democrats are adopting a budget reconciliation process; this will allow them to pass it with the help of their 50 senators.
Democrats Will Finally Pass the Social Spending Bill
Under the law, all provisions of the reconciliation bill need to be related to the budget in one form or another, or the bill cannot qualify to pass with the budget reconciliation process.
So, firstly, the social spending bill went to the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who scrutinized the bill under the Byrd rule.
Named after a former US Senator, Harry F. Byrd, this rule allows the Parliamentarian to remove any provision which is not related to the budget.
The Manchin-Schumer bill will create 87,000 new IRS agents to target regular, everyday Americans.
STOP BIDEN’S SHADOW ARMY! pic.twitter.com/DgJQ1K1KBJ
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) August 5, 2022
Democratic lawmakers started celebrating when MacDonough announced most of the key provisions of the bill related to climate and Medicare could easily be passed under the Byrd rule.
Late Saturday, the office of the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the Inflation Reduction Act meets the criteria of the reconciliation process, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which brought the bill to the Senate floor.
After that, Democrats had to pass another legislative hurdle, namely vote-a-rama, which allows senators to propose unlimited amendments to the reconciliation bill, but they have a small timeframe to do it.
Whenever an amendment is proposed, lawmakers from both parties get a one-minute window to debate. This is followed by a ten minute break to vote on the amendment. This process is repeated as long as lawmakers continue proposing new amendments to the bill.
Per Senate rules, because Manchin Tax Hike is being passed by reconciliation, there is an open-ended unlimited amendment process. GOP needs to make this the longest “vote-a-rama” in history—with amendments on crime, immigration, refugees, inflation, chemical castration, CRT, etc.
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) August 6, 2022
Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders proposed the first amendment, under which he suggested radically revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry. However, the amendment failed by 99-1.
The last time senators adopted the vote-a-rama process was in 2021 when 43 amendments were proposed during the budget resolution for the ongoing fiscal year, which led to a 14-hour-long senate session.
Dems Celebrating Last Days of Their Senate Majority
Although Democrats will repeal all the amendments proposed by Republican lawmakers, GOP strategists are likely to use the vote-a-rama amendment votes and debates for their 2022 midterm campaign ads to lure moderate voters.
Apart from moderate voters, the bill even enraged a significant part of far-left voters, who believe the reconciliation act empowers the fossil fuel industry.
Sen. Sanders promised to propose a fossil fuel amendment, but it will do nothing as these proposals are not supported by moderate Democratic senators.
Once lawmakers successfully vote for all the amendments, the bill will move for the final vote on the Senate floor.
Assuming Democrats keep their ranks intact until the end of the amendments, they are expected to pass the final bill with a thin margin of one vote.
With Republicans likely to capture the Senate in November midterms, this is likely to be the last major victory of Democrats under Biden’s term.
This article appeared in Right Wing Insider and has been published here with permission.
