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u.s. news Dialuna 8 augustus 2022

Senate Democrats approve big Biden deal; House to vote next

(AP) — Democrats pushed during the vote on speaker- stake.
their election-year economic phone to personally thank
package to Senate passage the staff for their hard work. The bill ran into trouble
Sunday, a hard-fought com- midday over objections to
promise less ambitious than The president urged the the new 15% corporate mini-
President Joe Biden’s origi- House to pass the bill as soon mum tax that private equity
nal domestic vision but one as possible. Speaker Nan- firms and other industries
that still meets deep-rooted cy Pelosi said her chamber disliked, forcing last-minute
party goals of slowing global would “move swiftly to send changes.
warming, moderating phar- this bill to the president’s
maceutical costs and taxing desk.” House votes are ex- Despite the momentary set-
immense corporations. pected Friday. back, the “Inflation Reduc-
tion Act” gives Democrats a
The estimated $740 bil- “It’s been a long, tough and campaign-season showcase
lion package heads next to winding road, but at last, at for action on coveted goals. It
the House, where lawmak- last we have arrived,” said includes the largest-ever fed-
ers are poised to deliver on Senate Majority Leader eral effort on climate change Nonpartisan analysts have In an ordeal imposed on most
Biden’s priorities, a stun- Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., — close to $400 billion — said the “Inflation Reduction budget bills like this one, the
ning turnaround of what had ahead of final votes. caps out-of-pocket drug costs Act” would have a minor ef- Senate had to endure an over-
seemed a lost and doomed for seniors on Medicare to fect on surging consumer night “vote-a-rama” of rapid-
effort that suddenly roared “The Senate is making his- $2,000 a year and extends ex- prices. fire amendments. Each tested
back to political life. Cheers tory. I am confident the In- piring subsidies that help 13 Democrats’ ability to hold
broke out as Senate Demo- flation Reduction Act will million people afford health Republicans said the new together the compromise
crats held united, 51-50, with endure as one of the defining insurance. By raising corpo- measure would undermine bill negotiated by Schumer,
Vice President Kamala Harris legislative feats of the 21st rate taxes, the whole package an economy that policymak- progressives, Manchin and
casting the tie-breaking vote century.” is paid for, with some $300 ers are struggling to keep the inscrutable centrist Sen.
after an all-night session. billion extra revenue for defi- from plummeting into re- Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.
Senators engaged in a round- cit reduction. cession. They said the bill’s
“Today, Senate Democrats the-clock marathon of vot- business taxes would hurt Progressive Sen. Bernie
sided with American fami- ing that began Saturday and Barely more than one-tenth job creation and force prices Sanders, I-Vt., criticized the
lies over special interests,” stretched late into Sun- the size of Biden’s initial 10- skyward, making it harder for bill’s shortcomings and of-
President Joe Biden said in day afternoon. Democrats year, $3.5 trillion Build Back people to cope with the na- fered amendments to fur-
a statement from Rehoboth swatted down some three Better initiative, the new tion’s worst inflation since ther expand the legislation’s
Beach, Delaware. “I ran for dozen Republican amend- package abandons earlier the 1980s. health benefits, but those ef-
President promising to make ments designed to torpedo proposals for universal pre- forts were defeated. Republi-
government work for work- the legislation. Confronting school, paid family leave and “Democrats have already cans forced their own votes
ing families again, and that is unanimous GOP opposi- expanded child care aid. That robbed American families designed to make Democrats
what this bill does — period.” tion, Democratic unity in the plan collapsed after conserva- once through inflation, and look soft on U.S.-Mexico
50-50 chamber held, keeping tive Sen. Joe. Manchin, D-W. now their solution is to rob border security and gaso-
Biden, who had his share of the party on track for a mo- Va., opposed it, saying it was American families a second line and energy costs, and
long nights during his three rale-boosting victory three too costly and would fuel in- time,” Senate Minority Lead- like bullies for wanting to
decades as a senator, called months from elections when flation. er Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., strengthen IRS tax law en-
into the Senate cloakroom congressional control is at argued. forcement.

More storms forecasted for flood-ravaged eastern Kentucky

(AP) — The National Weather derstorms” through Thursday that ainy, at a Federal Emergency Manage- flood-ravaged eastern Kentucky.
Service extended a flood watch could produce heavy rain and cause ment Agency State Disaster Recovery Biden authorized an increase in the
through Sunday evening for areas flash flooding “especially if multiple Center in eastern Kentucky to survey level of federal funding for emergen-
of eastern Kentucky ravaged by storms pass over the same area,” the the damage and meet with those af- cy work and FEMA added five coun-
high water more than a week ago weather service in Jackson said. fected. ties to those eligible for individual as-
and said there’s a threat of thun- sistance for a total of 12.
derstorms in the region for much The forecast includes Monday, when The biggest concern is the possibility
of the coming week. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill of slow-moving storms on Tuesday “This is good news and will be a big
Biden are scheduled to join Kentucky and Wednesday, which could dump help,” Beshear said in a tweet Sun-
There’s a “persistent threat of thun- Gov. Andy Beshear and his wife, Brit- heavy rain on already saturated soil, day after visiting the day before with
National Weather Service meteorolo- some displaced residents who are
gist Philomon Geertson said. staying at state parks since the cata-
strophic flooding.
“It is a wet and juicy pattern that
could cause at least some more iso- “These Kentuckians have been
lated to scattered instances of flash through the unimaginable. My prior-
flooding and further complicate the ity is being there for them,” he said.
recovery efforts that are ongoing at
this time,” he said. At least 37 people lost their lives in
the flooding after 8 to 10 1/2 inches
Some relief is expected toward the (20 to 27 centimeters) of rain fell
end of the week, Geertson said. in just 48 hours in the Appalachian
mountain region. The flooding also
“It does look like high pressure will hit areas just across the state line in
finally build in and we’ll get a reprieve Virginia and West Virginia.
from this really wet and muggy air
mass that we’ve been dealing with for The National Weather Service said
a couple of weeks now,” he said. radar-based rainfall estimates sug-
gesting that 14 to 16 inches of rain fell
Meanwhile, the federal government from July 26-29, totals that are “his-
on Saturday promised more aid for torically unheard of.”