manchinema DINOs

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THOM 3 SAYS HE COULD HAVE REVERSED CU 3 25

This is the same on-the-take Senator Joe Manchin who refused to break a filibuster and thus blocked legislation that would have reversed Citizens United and established an absolute right to vote in America.

sienma pension rev dr AI

both bailed 2024

===

gmail 12 25

Who's Funding Kyrsten Sinema's AI Front Group?

Corporate America’s former ace-in-the-hole in the Senate is now lobbying for AI interests including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and ExxonMobil.

when Kyrsten Sinema was a senator, she was corporations’ ace-in-the-hole. Now, she’s their AI lobbyist.

Sinema has been pushing the industry’s interests at the local level in Chandler, Arizona, where she’s tried to bully city officials into approving her client’s AI data center. Using a public records request, Zeteo’s Akshay Gokul obtained documents showing that Sinema has been quietly lobbying politicians in Chandler for months, attempting to sell them on “our AI data center project.”

The former senator has separately launched an AI-industry front group in Washington, DC, called the AI Infrastructure Coalition, where she’s now representing corporate giants like Google, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Microsoft, and ExxonMobil; the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz; and utility firms PG&E, Next Era, and Pinnacle West.

In this must-watch video,Zeteo’s Frank Cappelloreviews Sinema’s lobbying for the AI industry, sharing the mobster-style pitch she made to officials in Chandler, and his own hope that she manages to “cash out before the AI bubble completely bursts.” We’d hate to see her lose the bag.

===

AN 3 25

Trump's bootlicker brigade: How fake patriots are destroying America

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 04: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio kisses Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as he arrives for President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Win McNamee/Pool via REUTERS

Thom Hartmann March 10, 2025

Former Democratic Senator Joe Manchin accused Congressman Al Green and other Democrats of “disrespect” and — absurdly— “inhumanity” for standing up and pointing out Donald Trump’s over-100 lies in his State of the Union address.

The same sellout-coal-baron Senator Joe Manchin who opened the door for Elon Musk to buy the election for Donald Trump and Republicans to throw around 4 million mostly-Democratic voters off voting rolls or refuse to count their votes.

Now that the big money is on the Republican side, thanks in large part to cross-my-palm-with-cash Senator Joe Manchin stabbing America in the back, the elderly yacht-dweller seems to have joined the MAGA Republicans, at least in spirit.

You know who I’m talking about: those guys who claim to represent the “real” America.

We saw them jumping up over and over again at Trump’s State of the Union Address, chanting “USA, USA, USA” when Texas Congressman Al Green tried to point out that Trump was lying to everybody.

They show up at school board and city council meetings sometimes literally wrapped in the American flag while carrying semiautomatic weapons in one hand and bibles in the other, screaming obscenities and threats at public officials.

They demand that children be exposed to measles in school and refused to vaccinate their kids, then support Republicans who are planning to destroy the Medicaid program that provides healthcare to more than 70 million Americans.

They say they love our country, but they and the world’s richest man are actively gutting our government in a way that is openly delighting Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

They forbid teachers from teaching sex education, make it illegal for teachers to mention birth control, and when girls become pregnant make it a crime to get an abortion.

They strip out of our schools’ curriculum the history of Black people being beaten at the Edmund Pettis Bridge 60 years ago today, are banning books nationwide, and are waging war against queer people for simply wanting to be who they are.

They say they love our military, but are firing thousands of workers in the Veterans Administration.

They claim to be champions for the elderly, but are actively working on a plan to privatize Social Security while they gut the Social Security administration itself.

They insist that global warming is a hoax and fight like hell to keep hundreds of billions in taxpayer subsidies flowing to the fossil fuel oligarchs, threatening violence at even a discussion of a carbon tax, electric cars, or LED light bulbs.

They celebrate an attack on our US Capitol as well as several state capitols, trying to kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Vice President Mike Pence, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

They complain about the “American carnage” of our century-old infrastructure, but threaten a new civil war if politicians raise taxes on the well-off and the morbidly rich to fix it.

They assert a belief in “fiscal responsibility,” but are preparing to borrow another $5 trillion to give to their billionaire donors as tax cuts and corporate subsidies.

They demand prayer in schools and “one nation, under god” at public events, yet totally disregard Jesus’ teaching that prayer be done so quietly and privately that it’s in one’s “closet.”

Their preachers openly violate US tax law, forcing us all to pay for their public utilities like police, fire, and public roads, while defying Jesus’ teachings about separating church and state (not to mention the similar sentiments of this nation’s Founders).

They attack colleges and academics and support over a trillion dollars in student debt (which happens nowhere else on Earth) and are actively deconstructing our Department of Education while demanding tariffs against countries that technologically outpace us because they have better-educated workforces.

They claim to be “Christians” yet oppose government-supported food stamps and housing support in open defiance of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25:31-46 that the only way to get to heaven is to feed the hungry and care for the homeless.

They claim to believe in democracy yet push laws making it harder to vote but easier for goons to show up at polling places in militia garb to intimidate those who want to vote.

They say they’re on the side of working people but hate unions (except police unions).

They claim to be America’s best patriots.

They’re wrong, and tragically deluded.

In fact, they’re the boot-licking brigade for morbidly rich rightwing billionaires who don’t want their polluting businesses regulated or their taxes raised.

They’re gullible patsies of hustlers claiming religion inspires them while fleecing their congregations to buy a new private jet and a new mansion in Hawaii.

They’re sexually insecure men being played as marks by the NRA and the weapons industry, who tell them that by strapping AR15 prosthetic penises across their backs they seem masculine.

They’re grown-up elementary school bullies who turned to violence as children to conceal their inability to keep up in the classroom and now do the same when they don’t understand basic science.

They’re white chumps who’re convinced they’re genetically superior to everybody else and are terribly confused when they see really smart nonwhite people on TV or in politics.

They’re useful idiots of foreign autocrats and oligarchs who send millions of trolls and fake news across social media daily because a functioning American democracy is a threat to their own wealth, power, and appearance of legitimacy.

They’re dupes for billionaire media families and their TV and radio hosts who’re laughing all the way to the bank as they crank the outrage machine harder and harder to keep their suckers glued to the dial.

Genuine patriots work to heal a country, to bring out its best, to strengthen its social and political fabric and make a better nation and world for future generations.

These people are not patriots: they’ve been screwed for 44 years by Reaganomics, told it’s raining while that “trickle down” is just America’s oligarchs pissing on them, and they’re looking for someone to blame.

Trump and rightwing media have told them for years that their troubles are caused by people of color, scientists, unions, “liberals” and the “coastal elites” — and they’re believing it.

It would be tragic if these boot-lickers weren’t so wed to hate, bigotry, and violence; instead they’re a genuine threat to law-abiding Americans and the survival of our democratic republic.

NOW READ: Here's Trump's next target — according to the tyrant's playbook

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buh-bye, pension?

an 12 24

Outgoing centrist Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) and Joe Manchin, both former Democrats who are now independents, drew a lot of criticism from liberals and progressives after voting against confirming one of President Joe Biden's nominees for the National Labor Relations Board.

The critics included, among others, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts).

But Semafor's Isaac Schorr notes that Sinema, regardless of her critics on the left, "seems at peace with her record."

READ MORE:['Institutions kept failing us': Economist Paul Krugman explains America’s pessimism

In fact, Sinema said she doesn't "give a s---" about her critics on the left.

During an interview with Semafor, the Arizona senator said, "One person reached out to me after the election and apologized — and said I was right. One Democratic senator. I was surprised about that one. I was very surprised. And I appreciate it."

Sinema added, "I know some people think I'm, like, this enigma or whatever, but I don't think that’s true at all. I think, maybe, this is a place where sometimes, people say things that they don't mean. I am not one of those people.… I think I'm highly predictable."

Sinema decided against seeking reelection in Arizona's 2024 U.S. Senate race, which found Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego defeating far-right MAGA Republican Kari Lake. Sinema declined to say who she voted in the 2024 presidential race.

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COULD HAVE HAD A MAJORTY?!

TMP 12 24

Schumer torpedoed by Manchin and Sinema on crucial NLRB vote

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comm dr jake johnson

this Is Corruption’: Manchin Chief of Staff Now Chief Lobbyist for Big Oil

“’Shocking!’ said absolutely no one,” responded one climate advocate.

Jake Johnson

Jan 13, 2023

The top aide of Sen. Joe Manchin, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, is leaving the West Virginia Democrat’s office to work directly for Big Oil as a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, one of the most powerful influence-peddling organizations in the United States.

Axios, which first reported the news of Lance West’s departure to API on Thursday, noted that “through the on-again and off-again Build Back Better negotiations, he developed a reputation as a fierce advocate for Manchin’s positions.”

Advocates Warn of ‘Forced Labor’ Camp for Homeless People in Utah Designed to Enforce Trump Order

Manchin, the top recipient of oil and gas industry donations in Congress, ultimately succeeded in killing the Build Back Better package, which contained more ambitious climate measures than the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, a law packed with fossil fuel giveaways that Manchin helped secure.

That the aide who helped Manchin fight for the industry’s interests in Congress is moving on to work as an oil lobbyist hardly surprised watchdogs and progressive critics, who cast the transition as a glaring example of Washington’s ever-spinning revolving door.

“This is corruption. Period,” tweeted Nina Turner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy and a former co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign.

Others, including Jamie Henn of Fossil Free Media, reacted with mock astonishment:

IFrame Content

West, who will be API’s vice president of federal government relations, joins the ranks of other former Capitol Hill staffers and lawmakers who have left Congress to represent the industries they were previously tasked with overseeing and regulating.

According to data compiled by OpenSecrets, more than 60% of oil and gas lobbyists in Washington, D.C. previously worked for the federal government in some capacity—from entry-level aide to chief of staff for members of the U.S. House and Senate.

API, which spent $3.6 million on lobbying in 2022, has been sued by New York City and the state of Minnesota for its role in misleading the public about the climate crisis.

---

readsludge paywall

Joe Manchin has landed his K Street gig, with a Wall Street gig on the side. The 77-year old retired senator, a former Democrat turned independent, will join lobbying, consulting, and investment firm Bondi Partners as a senior advisor, the company announced on Friday.

The news comes on the back of the announcement, earlier this month, that Manchin had been named an advisor to investment giant Apollo, on matters including energy markets, and that he would join the board of its insurance arm, retirement services company Athene.

Bondi Partners, founded by former Australian Ambassador Joe Hockey, has also brought on several former Trump administration officials in recent years. Its announcement of Manchin touts its “growing” U.S. team: its staff already included former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former principal deputy chief of staff Emma Doyle, and others.

Bondi Partners has offices in Sydney and Washington D.C. and advises clients seeking to expand into the U.S. market. In addition to lobbying and policy analysis, the firm’s services include reputation management and arranging access to capital, from sources ranging from private equity firms to global banks.

“Senator Manchin’s extensive knowledge of energy markets and economic policy will be invaluable to our clients and partners,” its announcement said.

The firm has a lobbying arm, Pacific Partners, which touts its senior advisor Doyle’s nickname as “the Trump whisperer,” due to her insight into the president’s management style. It also has an investment fund, 1941 Fund, focused on the defense and cyber industries, a joint initiative with Australia-based Ellerston Capital.

Manchin was a key centrist figure in Capitol Hill drama since joining the U.S. Senate in 2010. He frequently broke from his Democratic colleagues to halt major legislation and was opposed to reforming the Senate rules to eliminate the de facto filibuster that has increasingly made passing bills difficult for both parties over the past decade or so. In the first years of the Biden administration, he gained notoriety for doling out favors to his fossil fuel industry donors and raking in corporate PAC donations.

Bondi Partners is not a large Capitol Hill lobbying shop, but its top federal lobbying client represents many of the largest companies in the world....

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lever

late last week, after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) obliterated much of what was left of President Joe Biden’s agenda by refusing to support his party’s scaled-back social safety net, climate, and tax package, some observers wondered what was in it for Manchin, the corporate Democrat who holds all the power in the divided Senate.

As The Lever has previously documented, the Democratic rotating villain role that Manchin is playing typically ends with a cushy landing spot on K Street working for big business. That’s certainly already true for one of Manchin’s longtime aides.

Jonathan Kott went from working as Manchin’s senior advisor to leading a well-funded dark money group that spent millions to crush Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (Ind.-Vt.) 2020 presidential bid, and then back to Capitol Hill. Now, Kott is a corporate lobbyist for health insurers, drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, and Fox News, while the media calls on the so-called “Manchin whisperer-for-hire” to offer commentary about what has motivated his former boss to repeatedly obstruct his party’s agenda.

Kott’s path through Washington’s proverbial “revolving door” showcases the lucrative career opportunities available to Democratic Hill staffers: If you work for conservative Democrats who protect corporate interests and loyally attack progressives, corporate America will come calling with a big bag of cash.

Kott did not respond to The Lever’s request for comment.

The trend of those working in Congress — whether as lawmakers or aides — leveraging their Capitol Hill connections and experience to work on behalf of wealthy special interests is not new, and the phenomenon has grown over time. The pattern is a stark reminder of the disingenuousness of the political establishment, which purports to prioritize the needs of constituents while getting rewarded by corporate interests for preserving the status quo.

A 2019 Public Citizenstudy found that nearly two-thirds of lawmakers who had retired or were defeated at the ballot box went on to work in the influence industry. Nearly 60 percent of these former members of Congress had taken up work for lobbying firms, consulting firms, trade organizations, or business groups to influence — and impede — federal government action.

Not surprisingly, staffers who move to K Street are likely to earn more money based on how many personal connections they retain on Capitol Hill, according to a 2017 study.

An Anti-Progressive Dark Money Project

Kott’s career path is a cautionary tale of how our political system — and its perverse incentives — chews up bright-eyed, bushy-tailed individuals who think they can effect change in the lives of real people through public service, only to get swept up in the game of trying to profit off their public sector experience through protecting the interests of the elite.

Kott’s career in public service began with an internship in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he worked to address homelessness.

“When I went to HUD, I realized I could help homeless people get a place to live, and that’s what I thought I would spend my time in politics doing,” he told The Hill. “But I got drawn into the press side, and that’s where I wound up.”

Kott went on to intern for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and then served as a press aide for the presidential campaign of former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the most notorious rotating corporate villain of the Obama era.

According to The Hill, Kott then went to work for the corporatist think tank Third Way, where he apparently “helped craft moderate messaging and policy.” Kott got the job by contacting Third Way co-founder Jonathan Cowan, who ran HUD while Kott interned there.

By 2013, Kott was back in the public sector, working as the communications director for Manchin, the coal-baron-turned-senator. For some time, he simultaneously worked for both Manchin and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a conservative Democrat and close Biden ally. Kott would go on to serve as Manchin’s senior advisor, too.

In the fall of 2019, Kott left Manchin’s office, according to Legistorm. He soon founded the Big Tent Project Fund, a dark money group focused on crushing Sanders’ presidential campaign.

The nonprofit spent $4.8 million on digital ads attacking Sanders, including those under the name United We Succeed. The ads criticized Sanders as a socialist who wanted to increase taxes on the middle class, saying that voting for him would mean Americans “losing our private health care.”

Kott told *Politico* of the ad campaign: “Despite over 50 years in public life, Bernie Sanders has never been fully vetted. The Big Tent Project will shed light on his record of politically toxic policy proposals starting in Nevada and South Carolina.”

The Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based campaign finance group, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2020 alleging that the Big Tent Project Fund’s primary purpose was defeating Sanders, and the group had thus violated election laws by not registering as a political committee and not publicly disclosing its donors. CLC last year sued the FEC for failing to take action.

According to a copy of its tax return obtained by The Lever, the Big Tent Project Fund raised more than $12 million in 2020.

While the organization is not required to disclose its funding sources, its tax return makes clear it was financed by just a dozen donors. More than 80 percent of its cash came from just three donors who gave at least seven figures, including one who donated more than $6 million.

In addition to its anti-Sanders ads, the Big Tent Project Fund reported donating nearly $3 million to Center Action Now, a dark money group created by Tim Miller, a past campaign aide to Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.

Center Action Now’s digital ads were designed to target center-right Republicans and independents with messages attacking Sanders and boosting then presidential candidate Joe Biden as the moderate choice. Some of the ads contained general messages encouraging people to vote. The group never filed independent expenditure reports with the Federal Election Commission.

The Big Tent Project Fund also reported donating $1.3 million to the Progressive Policy Institute, a corporate-aligned, ostensibly centrist think tank.

The only independent contractor Big Tent Project Fund listed in its tax return is a Delaware-based company called CMP Partners, LLC, which Big Tent paid $4.9 million. According to Delaware incorporation documents for CMP Partners obtained by OpenSecrets, the company listed “Terrence Walsh” as its authorized representative.

Terrence Walsh appears to be Terry Walsh, president of the The Strategy Group, who was a top campaign advisor to former President Barack Obama.

CMP Partners’ only other appearances in FEC records have been related to two additional outside groups attacking progressive candidates: The company handled direct mail for Americans For Tomorrow’s Future, a super PAC that attempted to defeat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in the 2020 primary, and also ran digital ads for Third Way against progressive Nina Turner in 2021, according to FEC independent expenditures filings.

Walsh did not respond to a request for comment.

“Slogans And Yelling Isn’t The Way It Works”

After the 2020 primary campaign, Kott returned to Capitol Hill, serving once again as a top aide to Coons. He soon decamped for K Street, becoming a partner at the corporate lobbying firm Capitol Counsel last June.

“Jon was a very effective communications director and trusted senior advisor for seven years,” Manchin said in a press release issued by the firm. “He is a thoughtful communicator and tactician with a true understanding of the importance of bipartisanship. I’m excited for him to be taking on this new role.”

Coons, for his part, said in the press release, “I’ve relied heavily on [Kott’s] candid advice, strategic insights, and vast media and political network. I wish him the very best in his new role at Capitol Counsel and look forward to maintaining our close friendship.”

In this new role, Kott has lobbied for oil and gas giant ExxonMobil as well as the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a lobbying group that represents oil, gas, and chemical interests.

He’s also lobbied for the Healthcare Leadership Council, a group representing prominent health insurers and drug companies opposed to universal health care, and pharmaceutical company Biogen. Kott’s work for Biogen has involved lobbying on efforts by Democrats to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.

In June, Kott registered to lobby for Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, including on “corporate tax issues.”

Kott is hardly the only recent example of a corporate Democratic aide who traded in public service for an influence industry gig. For instance, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-Ariz.) former communications director John LaBombard left her office to become senior vice president at ROKK Solutions earlier this year — moving from an office allied with the drug industry to a public relations firm that has worked for Big Pharma.

While Kott now works as a corporate lobbyist, news outlets have regularly invited him on their programs to defend his former boss, Manchin, as the senator works to impede the Democratic Party agenda on issues like climate change and health care.

In a January appearance on CNN, Kott sought to explain away Manchin’s refusal to end the Senate legislative filibuster, a rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation. This position puts Manchin on the side of powerful corporate lobbying groups, but Kott framed Manchin’s position as “looking to preserve how the Senate works and force them to work in a bipartisan way.”

He added, “Slogans and yelling isn’t the way it works.”

Kott told The Daily Beast in April that Manchin “doesn’t really care about party affiliation and is just focused on what he’s hearing from his constituents. And that’s basically how he handles his votes. He goes home most weekends. He talks to as many people as he can, comes back and decides how he’s gonna vote. And that’s basically what he does.”

---

ggl 10 25

[### It Pays to Be a Conservative Democrat Blocking Popular ...

Jacobin

https://jacobin.com › 2021/11 › conservative-democrats...](https://jacobin.com/2021/11/conservative-democrats-block-biden-agenda-corporate-lobbying-careers)

Manchin has been on a fundraising tear this year, despite stating last week that he hasn't decided whether he'll run for reelection in 2024. To understand ...

[### Manchin Chief of Staff Now Chief Lobbyist for Big Oil

Common Dreams

https://www.commondreams.org › News › joe manchin](https://www.commondreams.org/news/joe-manchin-chief-of-staff)

Jan 13, 2023 — Joe Manchin, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, is leaving the West Virginia Democrat's office to work directly for Big Oil as a lobbyist ...

[### Joe Manchin Heads to K Street - Sludge

readsludge.com

https://readsludge.com › 2025/02/17 › joe-manchin-hea...](https://readsludge.com/2025/02/17/joe-manchin-heads-to-k-street/)

Feb 17, 2025 — The 77-year old retired senator, a former Democrat turned independent, will join lobbying, consulting, and investment firm Bondi Partners as a ...

[### Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Know What Happened to ...

Newsweek

https://www.newsweek.com › joe-manchin-kyrsten-sine...](https://www.newsweek.com/joe-manchin-kyrsten-sinema-know-what-happened-pols-who-did-what-theyre-doing-1646115)

Nov 5, 2021 — Senators Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, DW.Va., haven't hesitated to oppose popular progressive policies in their own party's spending bill.

[### The Manchin Aide Turned Corporate Shill

The Lever

https://www.levernews.com › the-manchin-aide-turned-c...](https://www.levernews.com/the-manchin-aide-turned-corporate-shill/)

Jul 20, 2022 — Former top Joe Manchin aide Jonathan Kott launched an anti-Sanders dark money group and now lobbies for oil giants, Big Pharma, and Fox News.

[### Joe Manchin won't seek reelection in 2024, dealing blow to ...

Politico

https://www.politico.com › 2023/11/09 › congress › ma...](https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/11/09/congress/manchin-retires-senate-00126411)

Nov 9, 2023 — Joe Manchin will not seek reelection to the Senate, a move that essentially cedes his seat to the GOP in deep-red West Virginia and removes ...

[### Manchin Removes Ethics Provisions From Democratic ...

The Brick House Cooperative

https://thebrick.house › manchin-removes-ethics-provisi...](https://thebrick.house/manchin-removes-ethics-provisions-from-democratic-reform-bill/)

Sep 20, 2021 — Joe Manchin, who led the demands to remove the ethics provisions in June and says he is lobbying his Republican colleagues on the measure, is to ...

[### Why is Joe Manchin retiring from the Senate?

YouTube · CBS News

235.6K+ views · 1 year ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpocj0AX37E)

4:06

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced Thursday he won't be running for reelection after serving 13 years as West Virginia's senator.

[### Manchin says changing mind on retirement 'long-shot ...

The Hill

https://thehill.com › homenews › senate › 4534206-ma...](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4534206-manchin-changing-mind-retirement-long-shot-scenario/)

Mar 15, 2024 — Manchin announced in early November that he would retire from the Senate and last month ruled out the possibility of launching a third-party bid ...

[### Manchin's retirement may end up being his biggest tease yet

CNN

https://www.cnn.com › 2023/11/10 › politics › joe-man...](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/10/politics/joe-manchin-senate-west-virginia-democrats-jim-justice)

Nov 10, 2023 — Manchin's decision to quit Washington comes as a formidable potential Republican challenger, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, leads in both primary and general- ...

===

10 24

ymail

Did you see the recent email from our ally in Congress, Representative Raúl Grijalva (R-AZ)? He’s urging his colleagues in Congress to reject a new giveaway to the fossil fuel industry: coal baron Senator Joe Manchin’s (I-WV) Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.

This legislation would weaken and even eliminate public input and community approvals for dirty energy projects on Native homelands. Already, the U.S. federal government has frequently failed to get the required consent of Tribal Nations before moving ahead with large-scale projects affecting Tribal lands and waters, like the Dakota Access Pipeline. The U.S. federal government owes Tribes Nation-to-Nation relationships where we co-manage our lands and waters. We can’t let corporate polluters and their government allies further desecrate Tribal sovereignty or Mother Earth.

After the *Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 was introduced, the group Appalachian Voices wrote:

*“The Energy Permitting Reform Act is a fossil-fuel industry wishlist. If lawmakers want to reform our energy permitting process, they should start by listening to the people living near these projects, not the fossil fuel industries that extract resources from those communities and leave them with polluted air and water. And they should follow the example of Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice For All Act, which is what permitting reform should look like.”

The A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice For All Act would ensure that Native communities are part of the decision-making processes about our lands and waters, recognizing the Nation-to-Nation relationships that Tribes are owed. We need policies like that, not policies that threaten Mother Earth and undermine Indigenous peoples’ inherent and legal right to sovereignty....

As the ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee, I’ve worked with Tribes and Native-led groups like Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund on policies to protect sacred places and defend Indigenous sovereignty.

Right now, we’re trying to stop another dangerous policy from Big Oil and their polluter friends to fast-track approvals for dirty energy and mining projects.

Senators Manchin and Barrasso introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, which would attack our bedrock environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act -- undermining the main tools that communities and Tribes can use to protect themselves from polluting projects.

We cannot allow the federal government to further silence Native communities, whose voices have already been suppressed throughout this country’s long history of laws and policies to deny Native and Tribal communities their rights. Tribes should have more input in crucial policy decisions that affect their lands and waters, not less....

===

an 9 24 pro p

According to Shackelford, First Liberty conducted polling, ran advertisements, worked with social media influencers and urged Congress to oppose these changes. In particular, Shackelford said, his group focused its activities on convincing Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to oppose filibuster reform.

In the end, both senators did just that. “We stopped this from happening,” Shackelford said. (Spokespeople for Manchin and Sinema did not respond to requests for comment.)

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Kyrsten Sinema’s bizarre spending indicates possible retirement from Senate: 'It’s just nuts' - Alternet.org

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biden promised mvp to get BBB?

https://www.alternet.org/how-manchin-and-sinema-quietly-influenced-debt-ceiling-negotiations-report/

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ding dong both? pension?

Kyrsten Sinema blasts partisanship in retirement announcement: 'Compromise is a dirty word' - Alternet.org

sen Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) will not be seeking another six-year term in 2024, after posting a video to her official X/Twitter account announcing her retirement from the US Senate.

Sinema bemoaned the partisan climate in Washington in the video, stating that "despite modernizing our infrastructure, delivering clean water, delivering good jobs and safer communities, Americans still choose to retreat farther to their partisan corners."

"These solutions are considered failures, either because they're too much, or not nearly enough. It's all or nothing," she said. "The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic, attacking your opponents on cable news or social media. Compromise is a dirty word."

"I believe in my approach, but it's not what America wants right now," she continued. "Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.

Though she was initially elected as a Democrat, Sinema left the Democratic Party at the end of 2022 and has been a consistent thorn in the side of Democratic majority in the Senate since President Joe Biden took office. She and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) — who is also retiring at the end of the year — were the two deciding votes that killed Biden's signature "Build Back Better" legislative package, which would have guaranteed universal pre-K and child care to parents, paid family leave and additional funding for environmental programs, partially funding by an additional tax on the wealthiest Americans.

In March of 2021, Sinema angered Democrats as the deciding vote to kill legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. After stepping onto the Senate floor, Sinema gave the clerk a thumbs-down, with an additional curtsy, before turning around and leaving the chamber. She also rebuffed Democrats' efforts to get rid of the filibuster, allowing Republicans to maintain a blockade over any legislation that failed to garner the 60 votes needed to advance a bill to the full floor for debate after a cloture motion was invoked.

Later that year, immigration activists from the group Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) confronted Sinema in a public restroom over her refusal to back a pathway to citizenship for so-called "Dreamers," or children of undocumented immigrants who were brought across the border at a young age. LUCHA defended the bathroom confrontation, saying Sinema "denied our requests, ignored our phone calls, and closed her office to her constituents," and that she "hasn’t had a public event or town hall in years."

That confrontation happened at the Phoenix campus of Arizona State University, where Sinema taught a graduate-level course on campaign fundraising. The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein likened Sinema's course to "getting rich people to give you money." He reported that Sinema racked up nearly $1 million in campaign donations from groups opposed to the Build Back Better bill she helped defeat, and that she "has received tens of thousands of dollars in maxed-out contributions from private equity partners and investment firm CEOs who stand to lose in the event of a tax hike on corporations or the rich."

In January, Sinema made headlines after a Daily Beast investigation found that she had spent more than $200,000 in taxpayer money on private jet flights since 2020. Sinema reportedly spent roughly $116,000 in 2023 alone. Almost all of the flights were within Arizona, and were for one or two-day trips. The Beast observed that the cost of Sinema's flights last year were more than the annual salaries of nearly all of her staff.

With Sinema no longer running, the Arizona US Senate race in 2024 will be between Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and former newscaster Kari Lake, the presumptive Republican nominee who ran a failed campaign for governor in 2022.

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manchin no labels 3rd party run? 7 23 he resigns senate 1123

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an 12 23

earlier this year, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) voted with Senate Republicans for legislation to kill President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness proposal. In the months following that vote, she was a major recipient of the student loan industry's largesse.

The bill itself, H.J. Res 45, would have blocked Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower, though the president promised to veto it if it reached his desk, and the Supreme Court ultimately struck down the proposal at the end of its 2023 session. The bill narrowly passed the Senatein June, with 52 votes in favor and 46 in opposition. Sinema joined forces with all Senate Republicans to give the bill the narrow majority it needed for passage. Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) and Jon Tester (D-Montana) also voted with the GOP to pass the measure.

According to the Phoenix New Times, Sinema proceeded to rake in thousands of dollars in contributions from various donors connected to student loan servicers, for-profit colleges, banks and debt collectors after her vote.

The New Times combed through Sinema's campaign finance disclosure forms on the Federal Election Commission database and learned that the Arizona senator received approximately $27,000 in PAC donations between June and September of 2023. That includes a $5,000 contribution from NelNet PAC, which is a political action committee representing the interests of the second-largest provider of federally backed loans given by private lenders. Sinema also received $5,000 from a PAC connected to private lender Sallie Mae and $5,000 from a PAC run by the board chair of a for-profit Arizona college.

Smaller donations from the industry during that time period include a $2,500 donation from debt collector Portfolio Recovery Associates, $2,500 from a Washington, DC-based trade association representing the interests of for-profit colleges, and a combined $7,000 in donations from three PACs run by banks.

Despite her fundraising activity, Arizona's senior US senator has not yet indicated if she plans to run for reelection in 2024. She currently faces opposition from Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) and failed 2022 Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who campaigned as a vociferous supporter of former President Donald Trump.

:{Current polls show a virtual dead heat between the three candidates, with Gallego having a slight edge over his two opponents. :{Gallego brought in more than $3 million in donationsduring the third quarter of 2023, with an average donation amount of $28}:

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Kyrsten Sinema’s funds 'dry up' as Democratic donors abandon her: report - Alternet.org

tuberville?

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'I don’t care': Kyrsten Sinema plans to cash in on Senate infamy if she loses reelection in 2024 - Alternet.org

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), who has been a thorn in the side of both President Biden and the Senate Democratic Caucus, is already eyeing a potentially lucrative private sector career if her bid to stay in the US Senate is unsuccessful.

In Atlantic staff writer's new biography of outgoing Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Sinema — an independent who caucuses with Democrats (she left the Democratic Party in 2022) — apparently confided to the 2012 Republican presidential nominee that she's apathetic about staying in Washington for another six-year term. Arizona's senior US senator added that she feels she unilaterally "saved" the upper chamber of Congress by bucking' Democrats' efforts to eliminate the filibuster.

"I don’t care. I can go on any board I want to. I can be a college president. I can do anything,” she told Romney. “I saved the Senate filibuster by myself. I saved the Senate by myself. That’s good enough for me."

As the New Republic noted, the filibuster isn't actually a tradition in the Senate, nor is it even mentioned in the US Constitution. Former President Barack Obama once called it a "Jim Crow relic." Sinema's colleague, Senator Angus King (I-Maine), has called for it to be reformed by requiring those who use it to actually hold the Senate floor in what's known as a "talking filibuster."

"[I]nstead of having to have 60 votes to pass something, you'd have to have 41 votes to stop it. That way, the minority would at least have to show up," Sen. King said of the filibuster in 2021, when it was used to stop voting rights legislation. "So we've got to do something about this, at least when it comes to something as crucial as democracy itself, as voting rights."

The New Republic's Jason Linkins wrote last weekend that Sinema's obstinance in getting rid of the filibuster has led to Democrats being unable to pass significant legislative reforms — not only in the arena of voting rights, but in an assortment of other social programs included in President Biden's Build Back Better Act that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Sinema ultimately watered down and killed. Sinema was also a key opposition vote in Democrats' unsuccessful attempt to keep the expanded child tax credit.

"Her steadfast opposition to taxing corporations and the wealthy cut off the one funding mechanism that Manchin was willing to countenance to keep it running," Linkins wrote.

Sinema is currently running as an independent in the 2024 US Senate race against both presumptive Republican nominee Kari Lake and presumptive Democratic nominee Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona). An early October poll showed Lake in front, with 37% of respondents saying they would vote for her next November. Gallego was second, with 33%, while Sinema came in third with just 19% support.

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https://www.alternet.org/sinema-2662303351/

7 23 tulsi sis sec

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epstein linked

https://www.alternet.org/sinema-maximum-legal-contribution-billionaire/

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no lnx an 7 23

in the past, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) emphasized that she had grown up poor. That was a key theme of her 2018 U.S. Senate campaign, which found the former Democrat defeating Republican nominee Martha McSally and flipping a long-held GOP seat.

:{:{}:

But in an article published by the Arizona Republic on July 13, reporter Ronald J. Hansen focuses on Sinema's "lavish lifestyle" in 2023 — stressing that she is now known for having expensive tastes and wondering how that may affect her if she seeks reelection in 2024 and runs as an independent.

"For many," Hansen reports, "that narrative of humble roots has given way to another, more contemporary image of a senator hobnobbing with the rich and powerful — someone more comfortable sipping sangria in flashy apparel at a private gathering than meeting in public with constituents about what troubles them. Sinema hasn't officially said she is seeking reelection to the Senate since she left the Democratic Party in December to become an independent. As she considers her options, she does so knowing many of her former supporters haven't reconciled the image of who she once was to how she now comes across."

READ MORE: Sinema slammed over support of 'poison pill amendment' that puts 'corporate profits ahead' of people

If Sinema does run for reelection, it is possible she will be in a three-way race with Rep. Ruben Gallego (who appears to be on track to receive the Democratic nomination) and a Republican nominee. Far-right MAGA Republican and conspiracy theorist Kari Lake, Arizona's unsuccessful 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee, is being mentioned as a possible candidate but hasn't officially entered the race.

Hansen cites Arizona resident Martha Y. Scott as an example of a Democrat who voted for Sinema in 2018 but has since grown disenchanted with her.

Scott told the Arizona Republic, "I was a big fan of hers. I was so proud of her when she got in (the Senate). And then, all of a sudden, she turned, and I just couldn't understand why. It's like she's a Republican. I want people I can identify with. She's a sellout."

Hansen notes that Gallego "routinely attacks Sinema on social media." But election law expert Rick Hasen, who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), doubts that Sinema has committed any campaign law violations on her expensive trips.

READ MORE: 'Broken': Kyrsten Sinema confirms she 'absolutely' will not join the GOP

Hasen told the Arizona Republic, "What's prohibited is turning campaign spending into personal use. If a candidate used campaign money for a vacation that was completely unconnected to fundraising or something related to the campaign, that would be prohibited. But I don't think it's unprecedented for people to combine business and pleasure.… In a close case, the FEC is going to be unlikely to find a violation."

READ MORE: How Manchin and Sinema quietly influenced debt ceiling negotiations: report

Read the Arizona Republic's full report at this link.

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Arizona lawmaker wages war against Kyrsten Sinema with new Senate campaign ›

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medicare death panel ?

https://www.alternet.org/manchin-gop/

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lest we forget fuckery

an 2 23 edit bd

The Iowa Republican party is proposingdraconian new restrictions on what food can be purchased with the state’s food stamps, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

This attack on the poor at the state level is coming at the same time as the national GOP has successfullyblocked the continuation of the Child Tax Credit, a program which substantially, demonstrably reduced child poverty.

The GOP’s priorities are clear. They don’t want to reduce poverty. They want to police, control and torment the poor. The party that constantly touts liberty doesn’t want liberty for all. They want liberty for the powerful to impose their will on the most vulnerable.

Republican ire

SNAP is a crucial safety net and the country’s most effective anti-hunger program. In 2021, itensured that 41 million Americans — 12 percent of the population — could afford an adequate diet every month.

SNAP also provides valuable emergency economic stability. SNAP enrollment increases in downturns, putting money into the economy to combat recession and boost recovery.

Despite its importance, or because of it, SNAP has long been a target of Republican ire.

Matthew Gritter’s 2017 monographUndeserving: SNAP Reform and Conceptions of the Deserving Poor chronicles how politicians have moved to regulate food stamps in recent decades. They’ve tried to put limits on what foods could be purchased and to prevent people without disabilities or dependents from getting aid.

They’ve also pushed drug testing — an ideaintroduced by former KKK leader and Louisiana Senator David Duke, and instituted in states like Florida and Utah.

Gritter concludes in an earlier paper that the goal of these interventions appears to be to replace “a safety net of last resort” with “a costly method to impose punitive measures on the poor.”

“Evidence suggests that reforms will reduce enrollment without changing the circumstances that led people to seek assistance,” he says.

Iowa is the latest attempt to target SNAP.

Canned tuna and salmon

The new bill,House File 3, would putharsh limits on what low-income families could purchase in Iowa when receiving federal SNAP food stamp funds for healthy food options.

It wouldrestrict purchases to those covered by the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which uses federal funds for food assistance to pregnant people and new parents.

According to theIowa Hunger Coalition, “this bill would restrict SNAP participants’ ability to make their own food choices, take food away from Iowans, and increase hunger and food insecurity in our state.”

Families under House File 3 could no longer buy white bread, American cheese, coffee, snack foods, canned fruit and vegetables, bottled water, crackers and more.

They also couldn’t buy any meat except canned tuna and salmon. This despite the fact that meat, poultry and seafood is thetop expenditure category for SNAP recipients, accounting for 19 percent of money spent on food.

The Iowa GOP also wants a limit of $2,750 on household assets for receiving SNAP benefits; the cap is raised to $4,250 in assets if one family member is over 59 or is disabled. Houses and one vehicle would be excluded. Children’s savings accounts would not.

These low caps mean that people could not save for emergencies, because doing so would mean they would lose SNAP benefits. Nor could they own a second vehicle — a necessity for getting to work in many rural areas.

Historic low

The assault on SNAP is ugly because we have just conducted a sweeping experiment demonstrating that no-strings assistance to the poor is wildly successful at lifting children out of poverty with virtually no downsides.

The expanded Child Tax Creditinstituted in 2021 provided monthly cash payments to low-income families with children. It closed a loophole that prevented the poorest families from receiving assistance, and increased payments for everyone.

The result? Child poverty dropped to a historic low of 5.2 percent.

Lawmakers allowed the expanded CTC to expire.

Inevitably, child poverty rateswent back up.

Lawmakers refused to renew the expanded CTC in part because, mirroring attitudes towards SNAP, they believed that the people receiving the money were not deserving.

West Virginia’s conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin saidhe was worried parents would use benefits to buy drugs. He also wanted to institute work requirements for recipients.

But increasing restrictions prevents the neediest people from receiving benefits. It also mayprevent people from working.

A study of those in line to receive CTC funds found that recipientsbelieved the additional money would allow them to pay for childcare and increase their work hours.

Sure enough, in studies of the program conducted after it expired, there wasno evidence that CTC payments reduced workforce participation.

Undeserving

We know that SNAP is effective at reducing hunger. We know that simply giving people money, without conditions, is an incredibly effective means of pulling children out of poverty.

But conservatives don’t care. That’s because they’re not actually concerned with helping the poor.

They are concerned with policing them.

Conservatives want a poverty policy that is focused onpreventing people from accessing benefits. The goal is to punish the undeserving. And all poor people are assumed to be undeserving.

The success of the CTC shows that poverty and hunger are not intractable problems. They are deliberate policy choices.

The wealthy and powerful impose misery on the poor because they believe desperate people are more tractable and less able to organize.

Or perhaps they attack the poor simply because they don’t like the poor and believe they should suffer.

In any case, the expiration of the CTC, and the Iowa GOP’s assault on the SNAP program, shows that neither the pandemic nor the 2022 midterms have changed Republican commitments. GOP politicians like to cosplay as champions of the working class.

But the truth is they hold people of modest means in contempt and relish the chance to take food out of their mouths.

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date? soc sec deal w gop

https://www.alternet.org/joe-manchin-2659291095/

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an 1 23

On Sunday's edition of NBC's Meet the Press, United States Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) rehashed his defense of the Senate filibuster after moderator Chuck Todd asked him about his "viral" high-five with Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, January 17th.

"You just came from Davos. There's a moment – I don't know if you realize how that went viral between you and Senator Sinema – I want to show the moment here. I want to ask you about it. You guys are high-fiving. I think we'll show it again here. And I think it was right after she was talking about the filibuster. Yeah. Is that what you were high-fiving and about?" Todd asked.

"Yeah, that was, I think. And after that and I didn't, I saw her hand go up, and I said, sure. Because here the two of us are committed to protecting the filibuster, which I think protects checks and balances on the Executive Branch," Manchin replied.

"So if you have a Democrat, Democrat, Democrat – president, House, and Senate – and you have a strong president, basically the leader of the party, then you don't have a check and balance, because I guarantee the House and Senate will roll to wherever the president wants," he continued.

"And I've said this before," Manchin recalled, "I appreciate the Republican senators and under leadership of McCall of Senate, minority leader at that time, McConnell, majority leader at that time, with Donald Trump every day beating on him, get rid of the filibuster.'"

Watch below or at this link.

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https://www.alternet.org/manchin-sinema-2659280053/

sinema and Manchin literally 'high-fived' at Davos to show their support for keeping the Senate filibuster

Alex Henderson

Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have earned a reputation for being the two Democratic U.S. senators — or in Sinema’s case, a formerly Democratic U.S. senator — who are the mos...

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judd Davos 1 23

...tuesday's WEF program included a panel with Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). The pair shared an on-stage high-five in celebration of the filibuster, which has been used to block increases in the minimum wage, protections for voting rights, and efforts to maintain access to reproductive health care. ...

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beaten 3x

biden pro?!

https://www.alternet.org/manchin-climate/

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/12/manchin/

sick days railroad nay

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https://www.alternet.org/joe-manchin-defense-gas-stoves/

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staff personal errands

https://www.alternet.org/dizzying-array-dos-and-donts/

===

:{:{}:

12 22 an

:{:{}:

omg 10% up for DoD, many x more $

:{:{}:

Joe Biden and the Democrats are desperately trying to salvage the Child Tax Credit expansion, which pulled millions of children out of poverty.

Reducing child poverty is especially beneficial to families in red states, where poverty is most entrenched. Yet opposition to the expansion has come from Republicans and from red-state Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Pundits and Republicans often claim that Democrats are out of touch with the working class and need to cater more to rural red-state voters. Yet it is red state politicians who are working tirelessly to impoverish children in their own states. In this, as in many things, the GOP is not the party fighting for red states. It’s the party fighting to immiserate them.

A most hopeful policy

As I’ve said before in the Editorial Board, the Child Tax Credit — or Social Security for children — was one of Biden’s most successful and hopeful policies.

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) was instituted in 1997 in limited form. But the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 turned the program into what was essentially a sweeping basic-income provision for poor families with children.

Annual payments increased from $2,000 to $3,600 per child under 6 and $3,000 per child ages 6-17. A loophole excluding parents with the lowest incomes was closed. And checks were sent monthly, rather than at the end of the year in a lump sum.

The program only lasted for six months. But in that brief time, child poverty cratered. Food insufficiency went down by a quarter. Three million children were kept out of poverty for each month the program continued.

Then the CTC ran out and could not be renewed because of opposition from Manchin and the GOP. Quickly, 3.7 million children fell back into poverty.

Manchin’s opposition is especially painful because West Virginia has the fourth-highest child poverty rate in the nation; 23.1 percent of children live below the poverty line.

Mississippi has the worst poverty rate for children at 27.6 percent. Louisiana is second with 26.3 percent. Others in the top 10 are Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee. The only blue state on the list is New Mexico, in third place at 25.6 percent.

Reducing child poverty is obviously good in itself. But there is reason to believe that the policy had strong additional benefits, especially in red states where child poverty is most entrenched.

The libertarian Niskanen Center projected that the expanded credit could increase consumer spending by $27 billion since families who received the money were not in a position to save it, but would quickly spend it on necessities. They estimated state and local tax revenues would rise by $1.9 billion.

The consumer spending boost would be greatest overall in large states like Texas, Florida and California. But the states that would benefit most proportionally were those with the lowest average incomes like Mississippi, Arkansas, and Idaho.

More like excuses

Despite the fact that red states would likely see disproportionate benefits, Republicans are still opposing the CTC while Democrats are attempting to find some way to renew it.

House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said that Democrats were trying to include the CTC in a bill intended to make it easier for businesses to get a tax write-off for research and development expenses.

Meanwhile, Biden has indicated a willingness to negotiate with Manchin, who has insisted he would block the CTC program unless it has work and income requirements.

Manchin says he’s worried the CTC will lead people to stop working and will encourage laziness. But it’s not clear why we should punish children because of the behavior of their parents. And in any case, there’s no evidence that the CTC reduced employment among those who received it.

On the contrary, employment declined after the CTC was withdrawn, possibly because parents could no longer afford to pay for childcare or lost access to transportation.

Manchin and Republicans have also expressed concerns about the possible inflationary effects of CTC. This is a case, though, where we know that the neediest people — children in poverty — are substantially helped by the policy. An increase in inflation seems like a small price to pay for pulling children out of poverty.

And if spending is a concern, we could couple the CTC with a tax on the wealthy in order to ensure revenue neutrality.

Republican objections sound less like reasons backed by evidence or strong moral principle, and more like excuses.

The politics of cruelty

We have a program that is proven to quickly lift millions of children out of poverty with virtually no downside. Why are people from states with the worst child poverty problems determined to kill that program?

The question answers itself.

Republican politicians have long devoted themselves to entrenching poverty and crushing those in need in their own states.

They oppose the CTC for the same reason that they have fought to prevent Medicaid expansion under the ACA, contributing to rural hospital closures and exacerbating the covid health crisis.

They oppose it for the same reason that they have repealed abortion rights, even though denying women abortion access impoverishes them and their children.

Manchin’s determination to keep children of West Virginia in poverty is in line with the longstanding and successful Republican effort to keep the people of Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia and other red states poor, ill and desperate.

Republicans claim to speak for authentic rural America. But the policies they promote very deliberately keep rural people and their children in desperate circumstances.

The people in power in red states keep hold of it by enforcing a brutal hierarchy. Poor people, women and Black people must be constantly crushed and humiliated to keep Manchin and his GOP cronies in office.

The politics of cruelty have a stronghold, and Republicans are not likely to lose power in Mississippi anytime soon.

But we should be clear that their politics are not based on some sort of true understanding of the needs of working people. They’re built on refusing to help those who need help in their state, and on forcing children into poverty.

===

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an comm dr 12 22

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he intends to force a floor vote as soon as this week in a bid to ram through Sen. Joe Manchin's fossil fuel industry-friendly permitting bill, a ploy that climate groups and progressive lawmakers condemned and vowed to defeat.

Schumer's (D-N.Y.) planned maneuver, which he confirmed to reporters Tuesday, amounts to a last-ditch attempt to salvage legislation that has thus far failed to garner sufficient support to pass Congress. The permitting bill has also drawn sustained and furious protests from environmentalists, who warn the measure would expedite climate-wrecking fossil fuel projects—including Manchin's favored Mountain Valley Pipeline—and weaken bedrock environmental laws.

"This is abhorrent," the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition wrote on Twitter in response to Schumer's plan. "We've stopped this TWICE now because it sells our communities and planet out for fossil fuel profits. If you haven't already, please take a min to call your senator and ask them to vote against this: 888-997-5380. We cannot afford any more fossil fuel projects."

Schumer said Tuesday that Manchin's proposal—which climate advocates have labeled a "dirty deal" and a "fossil fuel wish list"—will receive a floor vote as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), sprawling legislation that is set to authorize nearly $860 billion in military spending.

Schumer and Manchin have received large donations from a major utility giant and pipeline firms that would benefit from passage of the West Virginia Democrat's plan, which critics say uses the cover of permitting reform to advance regulatory changes long sought by the fossil fuel industry.

"We're gonna vote on that amendment," the Democratic leader told reporters Tuesday. "As you know, Republicans have blocked it in the House, even though permitting reform is something that they've always supported in the past. So I hope they'll help us."

What Schumer didn't mention is the significant opposition from Democratic lawmakers in both the House and Senate. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who chairs an environmental justice and regulatory oversight subcommittee, made clear he would vote against the latest effort to revive Manchin's proposal.

"I cannot vote for a deal that cuts community non-profits out of the environmental reviews, further burdens frontline communities with toxic fossil projects, runs a fossil gas pipeline over every existing environmental law, and rigs the court system to boot," Merkley said Tuesday, referring to a provision in the bill that legal experts say would likely result in more favorable rulings for pipeline developers.

"We need improved permitting for renewable energy projects," Merkley added, "but this is not the way to do it."

[twt]

it's unclear whether Manchin's bill stands a chance in the upcoming Senate floor vote, with key Republicans including Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) pledging to vote no.

In September, Manchin—who has enlisted the help of oil and gas CEOs—was forced to withdraw his permitting legislation after it became obvious it would crash and burn in a vote on the Senate floor.

Manchin, the top recipient of fossil fuel industry campaign donations in Congress, suffered another defeat earlier this month when Democratic leaders dropped their initial plans to attach his legislation to the NDAA.

"The zombie dirty deal to fast track fossil fuel projects—like the destructive Mountain Valley Pipeline—is raising its ugly head again," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, tweeted Tuesday in response to Schumer's comments. "100+ [environmental justice] orgs have spoken. The House has spoken. No one wants this deal."

"It's time to let it go for good," Grijalva added.

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hmmn BBB? edit bd

https://www.alternet.org/kyrsten-sinema-doesnt-get-credit/

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https://www.alternet.org/kyrsten-sinema-2658947101/

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The Democrats just lost one seat in their newly minted 51-49 majority in the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced in an Arizona Republic column that she is leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent.

"Arizonans – including many registered as Democrats or Republicans – are eager for leaders who focus on common-sense solutions rather than party doctrine," Sinema wrote. "But if the loudest, most extreme voices continue to drive each party toward the fringes – and if party leaders stay more focused on energizing their bases than delivering for all Americans – these kinds of lasting legislative successes will become rarer."

Sinema insisted that Americans were more united than increasingly polarized political parties would have them believe, and she said that becoming an independent would allow her to better represent Arizona voters.

"Americans are told that we have only two choices – Democrat or Republican – and that we must subscribe wholesale to policy views the parties hold, views that have been pulled further and further toward the extremes," she wrote. "Most Arizonans believe this is a false choice, and when I ran for the U.S. House and the Senate, I promised Arizonans something different. and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama."

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On Friday, December 9, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has made a bombshell announcement: She is leaving the Democratic Party and will be registered as an independent going forward. This announcement comes only a few days after Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia was reelected in a runoff and Democrats were celebrating the 51-seat majority they expected to have; Sinema was part of that 51, but she will no longer be a Democrat.

In an interview with Politico, however, Sinema said that she won’t be caucusing with Senate Republicans. The centrist senator wouldn’t say whether or not she will seek reelection in 2024.

Sinema told Politico, “Nothing will change about my values or my behavior…. I don’t anticipate that anything will change about the Senate structure…. I intend to show up to work, do the same work that I always do. I just intend to show up to work as an independent.”

Politico’s Burgess Everett observes, “Even before her party switch, she faced rumblings of a primary challenge in 2024 from Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). Becoming an independent will avoid a head-to-head primary against Gallego or another progressive, should she seek reelection. A theoretical general-election campaign could be chaotic if both Democrats and Republicans field candidates against her.”

Sinema’s decision is receiving plenty of reactions on social media. Kyle Kondik of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, in a December 9 post on Twitter, speculated that leaving the Democratic Party was her way of avoiding a primary challenge from Gallego.

Kondik tweeted, “My initial gut reaction to this is that she figured she would lose the primary so is trying this path to reelection instead.”

Twitter user Brett Bobysud, @BBobysud588, posted, “Basically daring Gallego to run because she knows they'd likely split the D vote in the general election and give the seat to Rs. After Kelly won this past year in this environment, she probably figured this was her only option to keep her seat.”

Health writer Gina Shaw tweeted that Sinema is “holding the seat hostage.”

NBC News’ Sahil Kapur, @sahilkapur, posted, “This completes a remarkable transformation for Kyrsten Sinema, from Green Party activist to Democrat to centrist independent.”

Twitter user @PurveyorOCreepy, in response to Kapur’s tweet, posted, “This completes a remarkable transformation for Kyrsten Sinema, from collecting dark money to collecting dark money to collecting dark money.”

Mary Buggie-Hunt, @MaryBuggieHunt, was critical of Sinema as well, describing her as “a show-boating, attention-seeker who wants desperately to remain relevant AND in the news.”

Twitter user Akaash Kolluri, @akaashkolluri, commented, “I wonder how well it will work. It’s one thing for someone like King or Sanders to remain independent after a career of that, but this is so clearly a career-saving exercise that I wonder how many people it convinces. It’s not like Sinema has Lieberman or Murkowski's tenure either.”

Cassandra Noel, @CNDCapeCod, said of Sinema, “She was never a democrat to begin with. Can’t think of any democratic policies she even supports. A shame, considering her constituents thought they were voting for a democrat and she feels zero loyalty to them.”

Semafor’s Dave Weigel tweeted, “I woke up on the west coast so was initially confused by some bad analysis that pretended this risked the balance of power. It doesn't - it's a gordian knot-cutting political tactic that nullifies the biggest threat to Sinema's reelection, a primary against Phoenix's congressman.”

Weigel also posted, “We don't know how Dems play this yet. In states where popular (more so than Sinema) independents run and caucus with Dems, the DSCC stands down - Maine, Vermont. They don't have to run a D and won't want to if it looks like they'd only be a spoiler.”

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an 12 22 comn dr

A broad coalition of environmentalists, public health campaigners, and progressive advocacy organizations on Monday issued a stern warning to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to include the so-called "dirty deal" on energy project permitting reforms in the mammoth military spending bill set to roll through Congress this month.

In a letter signed by more than 750 groups collectively representing millions of American constituents, the coalition calls on Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Pelosi (D-Calif.) to "unequivocally reject any effort to promote fossil fuels, advance unproven technologies, and weaken our core environmental laws" as it urges the two Democratic leaders to "stand with the communities who continue to bear the brunt of harm from fossil fuels" and act in ways "to prevent wholesale climate disaster."

Kept out of a must-pass stopgap funding bill in September, the permitting reform package is the darling of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has tried to force the proposal through on several occasions as part of his agreement earlier this year to support the watered-down Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that passed both chambers of Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden. Since its earlier defeats, Manchin now wants to use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to force it through despite widespread opposition from expert critics, most members of his own Democratic Party, and outside campaigners.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported—citing two people who requested anonymity to "describe private conversations"—that Pelosi "has been in talks with House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) about attaching a version of Manchin's permitting bill" to the NDAA.

According to the Post, the text of the NDAA with the controversial permitting reforms included could be released as early as Monday, though the sources cited in the reporting indicated the situation remains fluid and the legislative plans were "subject to change" prior to any vote.

While Manchin's push for permitting reforms was previously defeated, its possible inclusion in the massive military spending bill, also seen as must-pass legislation, has outraged environmentalists and climate campaigners who argue that the nation must end investments in new fossil fuel infrastructure—including the Mountain Valley Pipeline which would run through West Virginia—in order to make way for the renewable energy transition necessary to stave off the worst impacts of rising global temperatures.

"Manchin's dirty deal is just as toxic and dangerous as before," said Gaby Sarri-Tobar, energy justice campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity,which spearheaded the letter. "This obvious fossil fuel giveaway would devastate communities and set back efforts to avoid a climate catastrophe. Especially after the administration's support of phasing down fossil fuels at the global climate conference, President Biden and Congress have to stop pandering to one senator's climate-killing agenda and reject any attempts to tack this poison pill to must-pass legislation."

Climate campaigners worldwide decried the failure of the U.N.-backed COP27 climate conference in Egypt that concluded last month without new and binding emissions reduction targets, especially for wealthy and high-polluting nations like the United States, where the fossil fuel industry maintains a powerful grip on lawmakers and government policy.

In the letter sent Monday, the groups said: "This fossil fuel wish list associated with the Inflation Reduction Act side deal, the so called Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), is a cruel and direct attack on environmental justice communities and the climate writ large. This legislation would truncate and hollow-out the environmental review process, weaken Tribal consultations, and make it far harder for frontline communities to have their voices heard. It guts bedrock protections in the National Environmental Policy Act and a previous version also gutted the Clean Water Act."[twit]

under no circumstances should Democratic lawmakers feel compelled to honor a deal brokered with Manchin behind closed doors, say campaigners, especially as it represents such a blatant giveaway to the fossil fuel industry and other powerful corporate interests who have bankrolled the senator's political career.

"Once again, the health and dignity of tribal communities across the country are being threatened by the greed of the fossil fuel industry and the elected officials on their payroll," said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, which also signed the letter.

"We're sick of having to fight to defend the basic bedrock environmental laws that allow our voices to be heard, while the climate crisis proliferates,"Cavalier-Keck continued. "Every lawmaker who is accountable to their constituents, especially those facing the most severe environmental injustices, must do all in their power to block this bill and all future attempts to risk our lives for a profit."

Donna Chavis of Friends of the Earth said over the weekend that elected lawmakers in Congress "must act right now to kill this dirty deal for good." She warned that "further silencing the voices most impacted by the climate crisis would erase the Biden administration's positive steps forward on environmental justice."

Campaigners like Jim Walsh, who serves as policy director at Food & Water Watch, vowed that opponents of the permitting deal would not rest in the fight to see the Manchin proposal—and others like it—defeated.

"Manchin's proposal serves the interests of the dirty energy companies that have supported his political career," Walsh said. "We will continue to oppose any schemes that incentivize fossil fuel expansion, undercut environmental and democratic protections, and sacrifice communities to the interests of corporate polluters."

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jj con dr an 11 22

Thirteen members of the Senate Democratic caucus—including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer—joined Republicans on Tuesday in approving a resolution that would terminate the national emergency declaration for Covid-19, a move that would kick millions of people off Medicaid as experts warn of a winter infection and hospitalization surge.

While the White House said Tuesday that President Joe Biden will veto the resolution if it passes the House and reaches his desk, the Senate vote sparked outrage among public health experts and others who stressed the far-reaching implications of the resolution.

"This is appalling," tweeted Dr. Lucky Tran, a scientist and public health advocate. "This will affect the cost of vaccines, tests, and treatments, restrict access to Medicaid and telehealth, and restart student loan payments."

"Ending the Covid-19 Emergency Declaration will be disastrous for millions of Americans who are struggling to access healthcare, make rent, and pay off their student loans," Tran added.

Joining Schumer in voting for the resolution were Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Angus King (I-Maine), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.),Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Catherine Marie Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

Every Senate Republican with the exception of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)—who did not vote [bailled] —also backed the resolution, which was put forth by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)[twt]

n a statement

on Tuesday, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) warned that enactment of the resolution would "unnecessarily and abruptly curtail the ability of the administration to respond to Covid-19."

"Preserving our ability to respond is more important than ever as we head into the winter, when respiratory illnesses such as Covid-19 typically spread more easily," the OMB said. "Strengthened by the ongoing declaration of national emergency, the federal response to Covid-19 continues to save lives, improve health outcomes, and support the American economy. Action by Congress to end these authorities abruptly and prematurely would be a reckless and costly mistake."

"If Congress passes this resolution," the agency added, "the president will veto it."

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a measure that Congress approved in 2020, loosened Medicaid eligibility requirements and restricted states from removing people from the program for the duration of the national emergency, which is currently set to expire in January.

The legislation's continuous coverage mandate allowed millions of people to obtain and keep health insurance as the pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy, throwing people out of work and off their employer-sponsored plans.

In a report released in August, the Biden Health and Human Services Department estimated that around 15 million people—including millions of kids—could lose Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage once the public health emergency declaration ends.

Advocates have also warned that millions of people across the U.S. could see their food benefits cut substantially once the Covid-19 emergency declaration ends.

"The U.S. must be ready to ensure that it does not jeopardize the health and food needs of households across the country," a trio of experts wrote in a STAT op-ed last month. "Urgent action by healthcare systems, community organizations, and all levels of government will be necessary to stabilize health and food security among those at greatest risk."

"While vaccines and treatments lessen the life-altering threat of Covid-19," they added, "it is important not to lose sight of the imminent danger to health posed by the expiration of effective expansions of Medicaid and SNAP."

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/she-did-nothing-ruben-gallego-blasts-kyrsten-sinema-for-not-helping-fellow-democrats-in-the-midterms/

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https://www.desmog.com/2022/09/29/manchin-permitting-reform-mountain-valley-pipeline-future/

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an 9 22

"Shame on President Biden and the White House for doubling down on environmental deregulation to benefit dirty industry," said one campaigner.

Sen. Joe Manchin may have pulled the plug on efforts to include his dirty permitting deal in must-pass government funding legislation, but the Biden White House said late Tuesday that it intends to seek out another "vehicle" to pass the gift to the fossil fuel industry, prompting climate advocates to vow to tank the measure again if necessary.

In a statement after Manchin (D-W.Va.) asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to remove the permitting overhaul from the government funding bill, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made clear that President Joe Biden doesn't intend to let the measure die despite fresh warnings over its potentially disastrous emissions impacts.

"The president supports Senator Manchin's plan because it is necessary for our energy security, and to make more clean energy available to the American people," Jean-Pierre said. "We will continue to work with him to find a vehicle to bring this bill to the floor and get it passed and to the president's desk."

Climate groups reacted with anger to Biden's insistence on a path forward for theproposed permitting overhaul, which would weaken bedrock environmental laws and fast-track dirty energy projects such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a top priority of Manchin and his fossil fuel industry donors.

"Shame on President Biden and the White House for doubling down on environmental deregulation to benefit dirty industry, even after a defeat they deserved," tweeted Basav Sen, director of the Climate Justice Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. "Our grassroots movement power defeated you once. We'll beat you again."

During a press call on Wednesday, climate campaigners stressed that continued resolve will be necessary to prevent a revival of Manchin's proposed permitting overhaul, particularly as reports suggest Democratic leaders could try to attach the measure to an annual Pentagon funding bill ahead of the November midterms.

"The fight is not over, but it should now be crystal clear that Congress needs to listen to and meaningfully engage impacted communities," said Stephen Schima, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice.

Lauren Maunus, advocacy director at the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said on the call that "the last thing" Biden should do is "further appease one coal baron in Washington and perpetuate more climate disaster through expanding fossil fuels."

"As we're six weeks out from the midterms election, voters like myself need to see Biden deliver further action on climate," Maunus added. "We need to see him declare a climate emergency and use his full power to prevent these record-strength hurricanes from further destroying our homes."

[goldtooth twt]

manchin and Schumer's scheme to expedite the passage of permitting reforms by attaching them to government funding legislation collapsed after it became clear that there weren't enough Republican votes to make up for opposition among members of the Democratic caucus, spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

In a statement late Tuesday, Sanders credited "the more than 650 environmental groups and community organizations who made clear that, in the midst of the horrific climate crisis that we face, the last thing we need is a side deal which would build more pipelines and fossil fuel projects that would have substantially increased carbon emissions."

With a number of Democratic caucus members in the House and Senate opposed to Manchin's permitting plan on climate grounds, its future prospects are highly uncertain.

One path forward could involve securing enough GOP support to nullify Democratic opposition, an effort that would likely entail making the plan even more friendly to the fossil fuel industry—something more along the lines of what Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) has proposed.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who whipped his members against Manchin's proposal, has voiced support for Capito's legislation, calling it "a strong, robust package that would actually move the ball forward."

The next opportunity for Manchin to ram through permitting reforms as part of a separate package could be the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bloated Pentagon funding bill that typically sails through both chambers of Congress each year with relatively little opposition.

"The NDAA is still out there," Capito told reporters Tuesday.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a supporter of Manchin's legislation, also said Tuesday that he sees the NDAA as the "most likely next viable vehicle" for permitting reforms.

With the Senate expected to return to session after an early-October recess to vote on the NDAA, Food and Water Watch policy director Jim Walsh warned that a bipartisan permitting deal "will be even worse than what Manchin was proposing."

"They are specifically eyeing the defense spending bill," he added, "bringing fossil fuel politics into national defense."

The Democratic leadership could also opt for a standalone vote on permitting reforms, which rank-and-file lawmakers have been demanding for weeks.

Mary Small, national advocacy director at the progressive advocacy group Indivisible, said Tuesday that "given the intense debate over the provisions in the deal, we look forward to debating the merits of this deal in a standalone vote."

"In the wake of this win and over the next few months, we urge leadership to focus on a winning legislative agenda that unifies the Democratic caucus," said Small. "As we have seen with this fight, attaching controversial policies to must-pass vehicles is a recipe for infighting and failure."

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an 8 22

sinema gets carried interest loophole reform jettisoned;

https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/one-senator-wealthy-essentially-unaffected/

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/kyrsten-sinema/

Senate Democrats passed a pared-backed reconciliation package on Sunday, but only after a pair of widely supported provisions that would have made it harder for Wall Street tycoons to reduce their tax bills were removed at the behest of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema—the right-wing Arizona Democrat who has taken more than $500,000 in campaign contributions from private equity executives during the current election cycle.

"Remember the days when taking half a million bucks from an industry, and then passing legislation that only benefits that industry, while passing the costs onto everyone else, would be called corruption?" Brown University political economist Mark Blyth asked on social media. "Today it's just lobbying as usual."

:{:{}:

Last week, Sinema agreed to back the Inflation Reduction Act as long as the so-called "carried interest loophole," which benefits hedge fund managers and private equity moguls by allowing their investment income to be taxed at the long-term capital gains rate of around 20% rather than the ordinary top income rate of 37%, was preserved.

Democrats, who needed Sinema's support to pass the filibuster-proof bill through the evenly split Senate, obliged, forgoing a modest reform that would have raised an estimated $14 billion in federal revenue over a decade by increasing the holding period for investments to qualify for preferential tax treatment from three to five years.

As the Financial Times noted Monday, the Arizona Democrat "is a beneficiary of significant contributions from the private equity industry—whose lobbying machine and political influence have grown increasingly powerful over the past two decades."

Citing Federal Election Commission filings, the newspaper reported:

Sinema has received more than half a million dollars in campaign donations from private equity group executives in this election cycle alone, representing about 10% of her fundraising from individual donors. This includes individual donations totalling $54,900 from executives at KKR, $35,000 from Carlyle, $27,300 from Apollo, $24,500 from Crow Holdings Capital and $23,300 from Riverside Partners.

The securities and investment sector as a whole has donated more than $2.2 million to Sinema since she was elected in 2017,according to OpenSecrets. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich quipped last week, amid reports of Sinema's plans to undermine her party's efforts to hike taxes on corporations and the wealthy, that Wall Street is "getting a huge return on their investment."

In addition to stripping the carried interest provision from the Inflation Reduction Act, Sinema protected private equity-owned corporations from a new 15% minimum tax on billion-dollar firms.

As The Washington Post reported Sunday:

As originally written, the provision would have required private equity firms to tally profits from their various holdings and pay the tax if the total exceeded the $1 billion threshold.

Sinema, who for over a year has blocked Democratic ambitions to raise taxes, raised objections on Saturday, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks. The senator argued that, without changes to the bill, small and medium-sized businesses that happen to be owned by private equity firms would be exposed to the tax, violating a Democratic pledge to hike taxes only on the largest firms. A Sinema spokeswoman said several Arizona small businesses, including a plant nursery, had raised concerns.

Steve Wamhoff, an analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank, told the Post, "The idea that billion-dollar private equity funds must be protected to save small businesses is absolutely absurd."

:{:{}:

Nevertheless, the newspaper noted, "the last-minute changes mark a significant victory for the private equity industry and an estimated savings of $35 billion over the next decade."

Following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, the progressive tax reform group Patriotic Millionaires ran a mobile billboard around the Capitol to thank Senate Democrats, with the exception of Sinema, who was denounced for being bought by private equity billionaires. The truck made stops at the offices of the American Investment Council and the Carlyle Group in Washington, D.C.

"Bravo to 49 of the 50 senators who voted today to end an era of rampant criminal tax abuse at the highest levels of American society and American business," Erica Payne, founder and president of Patriotic Millionaires, said in a statement. "In a journey of 1,000 miles, this is an impressive first step."

"Shame on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who had to be dragged kicking and screaming across the finish line, carrying water for her private equity overloads to the bitter end," Payne continued. "Thanks in large part to Sinema's obstruction, there's more work to be done, but the Inflation Reduction Act is a monumental step in the right direction."

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https://www.exposedbycmd.org**/2022/08**/15/kyrsten-sinema-has-many-friends-in-private-equity/

alex k

Last week, Democrats in the Senate and House managed to pass the Inflation Reduction Act—a significant tax, climate, and health care package—but only after appeasing one senator from Arizona by allowing an ongoing tax loophole for investment executives.

For years, lawmakers have attempted to close the carried interest loophole, an income tax arrangement that favors investment managers at private equity, hedge fund, and venture capital firms by allowing them to pay lower taxes—at a rate based on capital gains as opposed to their actual income from labor.

Once Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) worked out a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)—who has repeatedly obstructed Biden’s agenda—it briefly looked like Democrats might succeed in ending the special tax treatment.

But with the need for all 50 Democratic senators to sign on in order for the bill to pass, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) wasn’t about to concede her power. Although the state she represents isn’t home to many private equity firms, she has become the Senate’s leading defender of the industry. This staunch support has puzzled some observers, including The New York Times, which acknowledges the campaign contribution connection but questions why the senator doesn’t explicitly explain her support of the carried interest loophole.

A Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) review of federal campaign finance records shows that since the 2018 election cycle, many executives and lobbyists from the nation’s top private equity firms have showered Sinema’s campaign with cash, while also funding industry PACs that donated to her campaign. Many industry donors hail from California, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas, but few, if any, live in Arizona.

Corporate PACs have helped out, too, but these can only give a maximum of $5,000 per election. Together, the many managers who run these firms can give far more—up to $2,900 per election, or $5,800 for the primary and general elections in a given cycle.

With access guaranteed by their contributions, many members of the investment management industry had “numerous in-person meetings” with Sinema and her staff in the weeks leading up to the vote, according to CNBC.

From C-Suite to Sinema

Since running for Senate in 2018, Sinema has raked in nearly $2.5 million from individuals and PACs in the securities and investment industry, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics. And 86% of that support came from individual executives in the industry.

A member of the Senate Banking Committee and its securities, insurance, and investment subcommittee, Sinema has courted private equity titans and received the maximum allowed amount from the PACs of leading private equity firms such as The Carlyle Group, along with the industry’s trade organization, the American Investment Council (AIC). Even though she is not up for reelection until 2024, her campaign has already taken in $63,000 from securities and investment PACs since last year.

Still, the bulk of Sinema’s industry funds comes from executives—the very people who would have been forced to give up their lucrative loophole and pay taxes at a higher rate if she hadn’t blocked the carried interest reform proposal. Among her donors in the 2021–22 election cycle are the following executives from some of the world’s largest private equity firms:

KKR

Henry R. Kravis, the billionaire cofounder and co-executive chairman of the world’s largest private equity firm ($5,800, the maximum amount of $2,900 for both the primary and general elections). An avid Trump supporter and Republican megadonor, he gave $1 million to the ex-president’s inauguration fund.
George R. Roberts, Kravis’ cousin and the billionaire cofounder and co-executive chairman of KKR ($5,800 to Sinema’s campaign and another $5,000 to her leadership PAC, Getting Stuff Done)
Joseph Bae, co-CEO of KKR ($5,800)
Robert Lewin, a partner and CFO of KKR who appears to have made his first and only federal campaign donations to Sinema last year ($5,800)
Ken Mehlman, a partner and global head of public affairs at KKR and a former member of the George W. Bush administration ($5,800)

The Carlyle Group

Peter J. Clare, a director and chief investment officer of corporate private equity at The Carlyle Group, the sixth-largest private equity firm in the world ($5,800 to the Sinema campaign and $4,200 to her leadership PAC)
Brian Bernasek, a managing director at Carlyle ($5,000)
Sandra Horbach, a partner and co-head of U.S. buyout and growth at Carlyle ($5,800 to the Sinema campaign and $4,200 to her leadership PAC)

Blackstone

Jon Gray, president and COO of Blackstone, the second-largest private equity firm in the U.S. ($10,000 to Sinema’s leadership PAC)
Sean Klimczak, a senior managing director and the global head of infrastructure at Blackstone, as well as a board member of the natural gas giant Cheniere Energy who led Blackstone’s investment in the company ($5,800)
Eli Nagler, a senior managing director of private equity at Blackstone ($2,800)
Alex Katz, managing director of government relations at Blackstone, a former senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and a member of the 2019–20 Biden for President National Finance Committee ($1,000 to the campaign and $500 to the leadership PAC)
Giovanni Cutaia, global head of real estate asset management at Blackstone ($2,900)

CVC, General Atlantic, Bain, and More

Christopher Stadler, a managing partner at CVC Capital Partners, the world’s fourth-largest private equity firm, who leads the company’s private equity investments in North America ($5,800)
Bill Ford, CEO of General Atlantic, the seventh-largest private equity firm in the world ($5,800)
Heather Berger, a senior partner at Apollo Global Management ($5,800)
Josh Bekenstein, co-chair of Bain Capital ($2,800)
John Connaughton, global head of Bain Capital Private Equity, co-managing partner of Bain Capital, and a GOP megadonor ($5,800)
David Belluck, a general partner of Riverside Partners ($5,800); three of his relatives who live at the same address each gave $5,800 as well
[doc]

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p 1 of 6

Table with 4 columns and 86 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 15.

DONOR EMPLOYER OCCUPATION AMOUNT

AMERICAN INVESTMENT COUNCIL PAC $5,000

APOLLO EDUCATION GROUP PAC $1,000

ARONSON, JEFF CENTERBRIDGE PARTNERS INVESTMENTS $5,800

BACON, LOUIS MOORE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CHAIRMAN $5,800

BAE, JOSEPH KKR BUSINESSMAN $5,800

BARLE, STANKO RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES LLC FINANCE RESEARCHER $600

BARTH, CARIN LB CAPITAL INC. PRIVATE EQUITY $1,000

BEHBAHANI, ALI NEW ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATES VENTURE CAPITAL $1,000

BEKENSTEIN, JOSHUA BAIN CAPITAL INVESTOR $2,800

BELLUCK, AARON N/A NOT EMPLOYED $5,800

BELLUCK, ALEXANDRA N/A NOT EMPLOYED $5,800

BELLUCK, DAVID RIVERSIDE PARTNERS PRIVATE EQUITY $5,800

BELLUCK, ZOE N/A NOT EMPLOYED $5,800

BERGER, HEATHER APOLLO MANAGEMENT FINANCE $5,800

BERNASEK, BRIAN THE CARLYLE GROUP FINANCE $5,000

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DONOR EMPLOYER OCCUPATION AMOUNT

ALSIKAFI, ZAID MADISON DEARBORN PARTNERS MANAGING DIRECTOR $2,000

AMERICAN INVESTMENT COUNCIL $9,707

BAE, JOSEPH KKR CO-PRESIDENT & CO-COO $5,000

BAILEY, BRADLEY AMERICAN INVESTMENT COUNCIL VICE PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS $2,500

BARATTA, JOE BLACKSTONE GROUP GLOBAL HEAD OF PRIVATE EQUITY $5,000

BARBER, JEFFREY TA ASSOCIATES, INC. MANAGING DIRECTOR $1,500

BARLOW, JARED KLINE HILL PARTNERS LP MANAGING MEMBER $10,000

BARRETT, BRENDAN MADISON DEARBORN PARTNERS VICE PRESIDENT $750

BECKER, MARC APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT SENIOR PARTNER $5,000

BEGO, MICHAEL KLINE HILL PARTNERS LP MANAGING DIRECTOR $10,000

BERENSON, BRADFORD TPG PARTNER AND GENERAL COUNSEL $2,000

BERK, MICHAEL TA ASSOCIATES, INC. MANAGING DIRECTOR $2,000

BETTEN, ELIZABETH MADISON DEARBORN PARTNERS MANAGING DIRECTOR $1,500

BORO, SETH THOMA BRAVO MANAGING PARTNER $5,000

BRAVO, ORLANDO THOMA BRAVO MANAGING PARTNER $5,000

sinema is not the only U.S. senator to reap rewards from private equity firms; Schumer, for example, has received even more from the securities and investment industry since 2017. But he represents New York City, where many firms are headquartered, and as the senate majority leader, holds a position of influence that naturally attracts significant campaign contributions.

Private Equity Lobbyists Join In

Lobbyists representing the top private equity firms have also given large amounts to Sinema's campaign.

Subject Matter partner and cofounder Steve Elmendorf, who lobbied Congress directly on carried interest for both Blackstone and the AIC, gave Sinema $2,900, including $1,000 last August just as Democrats were attempting to negotiate passage of the since-failed Build Back Better package. As if in direct response, Sinema opposed closing the carried interest loophole in that proposed legislation, too. Elmendorf’s colleague Barry LaSala, who also lobbied on the same issue, donated $1,000 to Sinema in April.

Langston Emerson of Cypress Advocacy, who lobbied Congress on carried interest on behalf of the AIC, gave the Sinema campaign $4,500 in 2021.

In addition to in-person lobbying, Sinema was faced with public pressure from her allies. Last year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave the senator an award after she blocked a $15 minimum wage provision in the American Rescue Plan. This year the Arizona Chamber bought ads in local newspapers slamming the Inflation Reduction Act as a job and infrastructure killer and urging readers to call their senators to tell them to oppose the bill. The year before, the AIC ran its own ads and op-eds targeting Sinema and other senators.

Multiple Handouts to Private Equity

The failed carried interest provision would have effectively prevented investment managers from treating their own compensation as investment income, forcing them to pay a 37% marginal tax on their actual income as opposed to the much lower 20% long-term capital gains tax the loophole allows.

The 2017 Republican tax cut bill required finance executives to hold an investment for at least three years—as opposed to the previous one-year requirement—before realizing the gains at the lower tax rate. Democrats had wanted to extend the holding period to five years this time around, knowing that most firms would not hold an investment for that long before cashing out.

The private equity lobby—and Sinema—have consistently cast the tax loophole as essential for promoting local investments. Since private equity firms invest heavily in small businesses, the argument goes, imposing higher income taxes on managers would disincentivize them from making future investments. The AIC made this claim on Twitter, but it’s a fallacy: a tax on a manager's earnings from the firm's investments is not a tax on “the private capital that is helping local employers survive and grow.” It is simply an income tax on hedge-fund managers and other wealthy finance executives, meaning that it’s about their own money and personal bottom line, not the funds available to the firm for investments. [twt]

In the final stages of negotiating passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, Sinema and six other Democrats joined Republicans to give the private equity industry yet another gift—one with an estimated value of $35 billion. The amendment they passed creates a special carveout that allows large private equity firms "to avoid tallying the earnings of their subsidiaries and portfolio companies when calculating whether or not they are subject to the new 15 percent corporate minimum tax," according to* The Lever*.

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8 22 intercept

SINEMA PRIVATELY BLEW UP BIDEN NOMINEE NEEDED TO ENACT REGULATORY AGENDA

Ryan Grim

Sinema quietly killed Biden’s nomination of Ganesh Sitaraman for an important regulatory office.

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8 22 pro pub

To accommodate the West Virginia senator, Democratic leadership agreed to legislation streamlining permits for the often-stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline and removing jurisdiction from a court that keeps ruling against the project.

From his Summers County, West Virginia, farmhouse, Mark Jarrell can see the Greenbrier River and, beyond it, the ridge that marks the Virginia border. Jarrell moved here nearly 20 years ago for peace and quiet. But the last few years have been anything but serene, as he and his neighbors have fought against the construction of a huge natural gas pipeline.

Jarrell and many others along the path of the partially finished Mountain Valley Pipeline through West Virginia and Virginia fear that it may contaminate rural streams and cause erosion or even landslides. By filing lawsuits over the potential impacts on water, endangered species and public forests, they have exposed flaws in the project’s permit applications and pushed its completion well beyond the original target of 2018. The delays have helped balloon the pipeline’s cost from the original estimate of $3.5 billion to $6.6 billion.

But now, in the name of combating climate change, the administration of President Joe Biden and the Democratic leadership in Congress are poised to vanquish Jarrell and other pipeline opponents. For months, the nation has wondered what price Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin would extract to allow a major climate change bill. Part of that price turns out to be clearing the way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow,” said Jarrell, a former golf course manager who has devoted much of his retirement to writing protest letters, filing complaints with regulatory agencies and attending public hearings about the pipeline. “We’re once again a sacrifice zone.”

The White House and congressional leaders have agreed to step in and ensure final approval of all permits that the Mountain Valley Pipeline needs, according to a summary released by Manchin’s office Monday evening. The agreement, which would require separate legislation, would also strip jurisdiction over any further legal challenges to those permits from a federal appeals court that has repeatedly ruled that the project violated the law.

The provisions, according to the summary, will “require the relevant agencies to take all necessary actions to permit the construction and operation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline” and would shift jurisdiction “over any further litigation” to a different court, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In essence, the Democratic leadership accepted a 303-mile, two-state pipeline fostering continued use of fossil fuels in exchange for cleaner energy and reduced greenhouse emissions nationwide.Manchin has been pushing publicly for the pipeline to be completed, arguing it would move much needed energy supplies to market, promote the growth of West Virginia’s natural gas industry and create well-paid construction jobs.

“This is something the United States should be able to do without getting bogged down in litigation after litigation after litigation,” Manchin told reporters last week. He did not respond to questions from Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica, including about the reaction of residents along the pipeline route.

ProPublica and Mountain State Spotlight have been reporting for years on how a federal appeals court has repeatedly halted the pipeline’s construction because of permitting flaws and how government agencies have responded by easing rules to aid the developer.

The climate change legislation, for which Manchin’s vote is considered vital, includes hundreds of millions of dollars for everything from ramping up wind and solar power to encouraging consumers to buy clean vehicles or cleaner heat pumps. Leading climate scientists call it transformative. The Sierra Club called on Congress to pass it immediately. Even the West Virginia Environmental Council urged its members to contact Manchin to thank him.

“Senator Manchin needs to know his constituents support his vote!” the council said in an email blast. “Call today to let him know what climate investments for West Virginia means to you!”

But even some residents along the pipeline route who are avidly in favor of action against climate change say they feel like poker chips in a negotiation they weren’t at the table for. And they are anything but happy with Manchin. “He could do so much more for Appalachia, a lot more than he is, but he’s chosen to only listen to industries,” farmer Maury Johnson said.

It’s not clear exactly when the Mountain Valley Pipeline became a focal point of the efforts to win Manchin’s vote on the climate change legislation. Reports circulated in mid-July that the White House was considering giving in to some Manchin demands focused on fossil fuel industries. That prompted some environmental groups to urge Biden to take the opposite route, blocking the pipeline and other pro-industry measures.

Pipeline spokesperson Natalie Cox said in an email that it “is being recognized as a critical infrastructure project” and that developers remain “committed to working diligently with federal and state regulators to secure the necessary permits to finish construction.” Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, the developer, is a joint venture of Equitrans Midstream Corp. and several other energy companies.

The company “has been, and remains, committed to full adherence” with state and federal regulations,” Cox added. “We take our responsibilities very seriously and have agreed to unprecedented levels of scrutiny and oversight.”

The White House and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Mountain Valley Pipeline is one of numerous pipelines proposed across the region, reflecting an effort to exploit advances in natural gas drilling technologies. Many West Virginia business and political leaders, including Manchin, hope that natural gas will create jobs and revenue, offsetting the decline of the coal industry.

To protect the environment, massive pipeline projects must obtain a variety of permits before being built. Developers and regulators are supposed to study alternatives, articulate a clear need for the project and outline steps to minimize damage to the environment.

In Mountain Valley Pipeline’s case, citizen groups have successfully challenged several of these approvals before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In one widely publicized ruling involving a different pipeline, the panel alluded to Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax,” saying that the U.S. Forest Service had failed to “speak for the trees” in approving the project. The decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, but not before the project was canceled.

The 4th Circuit has ruled against the Mountain Valley Pipeline time and again, saying developers and permitting agencies skirted regulations aimed at protecting water quality, public lands and endangered species. In the past four years, the court has found that three federal agencies — the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management — illegally approved various aspects of the project.

While those agencies tweaked the rules, what Manchin’s new deal would do is change the referee. In March, Manchin told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that the 4th Circuit “has been unmerciful on allowing any progress” by Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Then, in May, lawyers for the pipeline petitioned the 4th Circuit to assign a lawsuit by environmental advocates to a new three-judge panel, instead of having it heard by judges who had previously considered related pipeline cases. Among other things, the attorneys cited a Wall Street Journal editorial, published a week earlier, declaring that the pipeline had “come under a relentless siege by green groups and activists in judicial robes.”

Lawyers for the environmental groups responded in a court filing that Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC was just “dissatisfied that it has not prevailed” more often and was unfairly lobbing a charge that the legal process was rigged. The 4th Circuit rejected the company’s request.

It is unclear whether this pending case, which challenges a water pollution permit issued by West Virginia regulators, would be transferred if the Manchin legislation becomes law.

Congress has intervened in jurisdiction over pipeline cases before. In 2005, it diverted legal challenges to decisions on pipeline permits from federal district courts to the appeals court circuit where the projects are located. The move was part of a plan encouraged by then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s secretive energy task force to speed up project approvals. (Under the Constitution, Congress can determine the jurisdiction of all federal courts except the U.S. Supreme Court.)

Besides the pipeline, Manchin has cited other reasons for his change of heart on the climate change bill. He has emphasized that the bill would reduce inflation and pay down the national debt.

Approval for the pipeline may not be a done deal. Both senators from Virginia, where the pipeline is also a hot political issue, are signaling that they don’t feel bound by Manchin’s agreement with the leadership. Manchin’s own announcement said that Democratic leaders have “committed to advancing” the pipeline legislation — not that the bill would pass. Regional and national environmental groups are walking a fine line. They support the climate change legislation while opposing weakening the permit process.

The pipeline’s neighbors say they’ll keep fighting, but they recognize that the odds are against them. “You just feel like you’re not an equal citizen when you’re dealing with Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Jarrell said.

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7 22

We can do this. We can get out of a world where we have to go kowtow, fist-bump the idiot king of Saudi Arabia. We can do it, but only if we’re willing to make the effort that Joe Manchin has kept us from making this week.

AMY GOODMAN:

Let’s name some names. I’m looking at a Politico piece that talks about where Senator Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, you know, the top recipient of oil and gas funds, gets his money. Last quarter’s campaign finance data shows the trend is continuing. 'The senator received donations from executives at Georgia Power, including the utility’s CFO Aaron Abramovitz, and from Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue. Energy services firm Concord Energy CEO Matthew Flavin gave Manchin the maximum allowable amount of $5,800, as did Southern CompanyGas CEO Kim Greene and Harvest Midstream CEO Jason Rebrook. Southern Company’s chair and CEO Chris Cummiskey gave Manchin $2,000, while three other company executives gave at least $1,000. An in-house lobbyist for the company donated $1,000 as well. Kara G. Moriarty, president of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association, gave $1,000, too, along with two executives from the energy storage company Form Energy.'

And it goes on: 'Manchin also took in more than $19,000 from political action committees belonging to fossil fuel or energy companies and their trade groups, including the Coterra Energy, NextEra Energy, North American Coal Corp., the American Exploration & Production Council’s PAC. The PACs for private equity giant the Carlyle Group and AT&T contributed $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.' Your response, Bill?

BILL McKIBBEN:

You know what’s pathetic? It’s pathetic how cheap it is to buy these guys. So, you know, for a few hundred thousand dollars, you can afford a senator, and he is able to put the kibosh on hundreds of billions of dollars in renewable energy spending. The list you just read is a list of all the people who don’t want the status quo to change, who want to slow down that change as much as they can. That’s what they are paying for, and that’s what they got, man. This was money well spent, from their point of view....

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/joe-manchin-kills-climate-provisions/

jake j cmn dr

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia informed Democratic leaders Thursday that he will not support any new climate spending or tax increases targeting the wealthy and large corporations, sinking his party's revived push for renewable energy investments and further undercutting the country's ability to rein in carbon emissions.

While Manchin's refusal to endorse green energy funding may have been entirely foreseeable given his close ties to the fossil fuel industry and his role in tanking the Build Back Better package just months earlier, climate advocates nevertheless voiced dismay at the power one individual has been able to exert over a process with implications for billions of people across the planet.

"This is nothing short of a death sentence," warned Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement. "Our democracy is broken when one man who profits from the fossil fuel industry can defy the 81 million Americans who voted for Democrats to stop the climate crisis. It's clear appealing to corporate obstructionists doesn't work, and it will cost us a generation of voters."

Manchin's position, which he reportedly laid out during a closed-door meeting with the Democratic leadership on Thursday, marks a huge setback for the majority party's last-ditch attempt to assemble a far more limited reconciliation bill ahead of the pivotal midterm elections, in which Democrats' slim majorities in the House and Senate are at risk.

The Washington Post, the first outlet to report on the West Virginia Democrat's stance,noted that party leaders had already "agreed to surrender their most prized spending proposals, from offering paid family and medical leave to providing child care, free prekindergarten, and tax benefits to low-income Americans" in a bid to win Manchin's support, which is necessary to get a reconciliation package through the Senate.

"In more recent talks," the Post added, "[Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer and his colleagues set about trying to woo the longtime holdout over a scaled-back approach—including tax credits to spur clean energy, incentives to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles, and limited penalties on the producers of harmful methane gas."

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told the newspaper that the collapse of climate talks is a devastating failure.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat my disappointment here, especially since nearly all issues in the climate and energy space had been resolved," said Wyden. "This is our last chance to prevent the most catastrophic—and costly—effects of climate change. We can't come back in another decade and forestall hundreds of billions—if not trillions—in economic damage and undo the inevitable human toll."

With new climate and tax provisions off the table, Manchin reportedly told top Democrats that he's open to letting Medicare negotiate the prices of a small number of prescription drugs and extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to lapse in the coming months, which would mean surging premiums for millions of people.

The removal of climate provisions from the nascent legislative package is disastrous for U.S. efforts to bring carbon emissions into line with international targets and transition the country away from fossil fuels, the primary driver of the climate crisis.

But it's a major victory for the powerful and deep-pocketed oil and gas industry, which has been lobbying aggressively against renewable energy spending.

"Manchin has taken more money from the fossil fuel industry than anyone else in D.C.," noted Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org. "And the return on that investment has been enormous. Big Oil got its money's worth a thousand times over."

Morris Pearl, chair of the Patriotic Millionaires—a group that advocates for higher taxes on the wealthy—said Thursday that "Manchin just handed victory in America's class war to the billionaires."

"He's shown he doesn't care about the American people, he only cares about the tiny wealthy minority of Americans who are opposed to rich people (like his family and friends who own the coal mining industry) paying taxes," Pearl added. "Some may be ignorant, some may be corrupt, all are just sad pawns in the oligarchs' takeover of America."

The closure, for now, of legislative paths toward climate action spurred fresh calls for President Joe Biden to do everything he can through executive action.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) tweeted late Thursday that "it’s now time for executive Beast Mode" from the president, who has thus far resisted pressure to declare a climate emergency and take other steps to mobilize federal resources to combat a crisis whose deadly consequences are becoming more evident by the day.

"Do it all and start it now," Whitehouse demanded.

In a press release, the Sunrise Movement outlined a list of actions Biden could take without needing congressional approval:

End the practice of leasing public lands and waters for fossil fuel production;
Stop the issue of permits for any new fossil fuel infrastructure, including pipelines, petrochemical plants, and export terminals, especially Line 3, Line 5, and the Mountain Valley Pipeline;
Declare a climate emergency;
Update and strengthen outdated standards limiting particulate matter, ozone, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, coal ash, and tailpipe emissions, as well as lead and copper rules preventing contamination of drinking water;
Finalize new methane standards for new and existing oil and gas operations, and make these standards strong enough to cut methane pollution at least 65 percent below 2012 levels by 2025; and
Direct the EPA to designate greenhouse pollutants as criteria air pollutants and set a science-based national pollution cap under the Clean Air Act.

"We won't stop fighting," said Prakash. "Biden must declare a climate emergency, and do everything in his executive power to stop the climate crisis immediately. That's the only way he can salvage his presidency and save our generation. And we must uproot this broken system and rebuild it to work for us."

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sinema social worker boosts not guns mental health bill; coons cornyn (booed tx state gop?] got it done?

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/kyrsten-sinema-senate-speech-guns/

United States Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) gave a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday in which she called upon Democrats and Republicans to set aside intraparty bickering and solve the uniquely American problem of unending gun violence.

The Senate on Tuesday passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act which lawmakers believe holds the potential to save lives. But members of the right-wing Republican caucus in the House of Representatives, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California), have expressed their opposition to the measure, claiming that it infringes upon the Second Amendment.

An aide to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) – himself a survivor of a mass assassination attempt – told Politico that Scalise intends to rouse his GOP colleagues to vote against it.

Sinema, meanwhile, urged cooperation so that Congress can finally deliver something that protects the public.

"Common sense proposals have been tossed to the side by partisan lawmakers choosing politics instead of solutions. Elected officials have made a habit of insulting one another for offering thoughts and prayers, for blaming violence on strictly mental illness or video games or particular kinds of weapons, or any cause that didn't align with and confirm their own predetermined beliefs," Sinema said.

"Casting blame and trading political barbs and attacks became the path of least resistance, but the communities across our country who have experienced senseless violence deserve better than Washington politics as usual," the Senator continued. "Our communities deserve a commitment from their leaders to do the hard work of putting aside politics, identifying problems that need solving, and working together toward common ground and common goals."

Watch below via Vox's Aaron Rupar: ["word salad"? crafted?] this from curtsey thumbs down girl?

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no lnx twt

Republicans delay everything in order to destroy Democratic agenda ⁠— with an assist from Manchin

Joan McCarter and Daily Kos June 19, 2022

Senate Republicans have been playing a transparent game for months now, using their willing tool of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to drag out negotiations on any number of issues to keep him away from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Joe Biden. To prevent Democrats from moving any significant policies that can help the American people and give Democrats a win.

They’ve done it on voting rights and election reforms. They’ve done it on climate and energy. It’s just one tactic—and a very successful one—Republicans are using to keep the Democratic majority tied up and unable to accomplish anything.

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Case in point: additional funding for the federal COVID-19 effort. Manchin’s good friend and frequent negotiating partner Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) all but killed it this week when he alleged that the Biden administration lied about the government’s ability to secure additional vaccines, treatments, and supplies. That’s because the White House recently announced it was taking money from other priorities to pay for the most pressing needs.

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“Washington operates on a relationship of trust between the respective parties,” Romney said Thursday,. “I hope that there’s an appreciation that for the administration to say they could not purchase these things, and then after several months, divert some funds and then purchase them is unacceptable, and makes our ability to work together … very much shaken to the core.” The pearls are tightly clutched.

The White House, not surprisingly, has a different interpretation on how discussions have been going. “We’ve tried to meet Republicans on their requests, and they keep moving the goal posts,” one official told the Washington Post. Another, spokesperson Kevin Munoz, went on the record. “Going back to January, we’ve been working with members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, on the funding needs for the covid response,” he said in a statement. “We’ve also been crystal clear about the consequences of a lack of funding … including the very real possibility that we would have to reevaluate the planned uses of existing funds.”

There’s one more potential win for the White House—not to mention all the people at risk of catching COVID-19 in the coming weeks and months—Republicans are cynically blocking. It’s nearly as egregious as what they’ve been doing on guns.

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All of that puts this in a “we’ll believe when we sit it” mood. “Senate Democrats are preparing for possible summer action on their still-elusive climate, tax reform and prescription drugs bill, grinding behind the scenes on a new version during high-profile gun safety talks.” Because it’s Manchin, once again, that all this is hinging on and Republicans are on the verge of declaring that partisan Democrats have destroyed any hope of gun safety regulation with their unreasonable demands that guns be kept out of the hands of people who have been convicted of violence.

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That sets up Manchin to declare that the Democrats have been horrible partisans and he just can’t continue to work with them. He’s used far flimsier excuses before, like the fact that the White House included his name in a statement about Build Back Better. That’s what blew up the whole package last December, supposedly. It likely wouldn’t take anything more for Manchin to do it again.

Republicans are counting on that.

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6 22

As the 2022 midterm elections approach, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is urging his Democratic colleagues to change course if they want to remain in control of both chambers of government.guk

In an op-ed published by The Guardian, the progressive lawmaker expressed concern about the country's financial strain and the economic toll inflation is taking on American workers.

Although Republicans are aggressively working to "overturn Roe v Wade, opposing a minimum wage increase, embracing more tax breaks for the rich and the growth of oligarchy, and stopping us from passing serious gun safety legislation," Sanders noted that the right-wing party still has a good chance of gaining control of the House and Senate.

He went on to explain why. "According to numerous polls, the Republicans stand an excellent chance of winning this coming November," Sanders wrote. "The main reason: while the Democratic party has, over the years, been hemorrhaging support from the white working class, it is now losing support from Latino, Black and Asian workers as well."

The lawmaker added, "The enthusiasm level within the Democratic base is extremely low. It is not only working-class support that is fading away but it is also that young people, who helped elect Biden and other Democrats in 2020, are becoming increasingly demoralized and are not likely to vote in large numbers in this coming election."

He also acknowledged the needs of the American people and what many really want in wake of an impending recession. "Amid grotesque and widening income and wealth inequality and decades of wage stagnation, the existential threat of climate crisis, a rigged tax system, and crises in healthcare, childcare, and housing, the American people wanted Congress to finally stand up and represent their interests, not just the greed of wealthy campaign contributors," Sanders wrote, adding, "And that’s what the Build Back Better Act was about. Poll after poll showed overwhelming support for virtually every provision in that legislation."

According to Sanders, there are a number of things Democrats need to do if they want a more favorable outcome during the November midterms.

"What the Democrats need to do, right now, is to make it clear: they may have 50 votes in the Senate, but they do not have 50 votes to pass the legislation that the American people want and need," he wrote. "They have no Republican support and there are two Democrats who will vote with Republicans on important issues." DINOs

With so many issues threatening democracy, Sanders stressed how imperative it is to be proactive in tackling key issues that concern the American people.

"Now is the time to make democracy work.Let us bring to the Senate floor the major issues impacting working families and vote, vote, and vote again. Even if we lost these votes, which is likely, the American people have the right to see where their elected officials stand. Make them vote!"

He concluded, "The Democratic party cannot continue to ignore the needs of the working class of our country and expect to retain majority control in the US House and US Senate. It’s time to show which side we’re on. It’s time to start voting."

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