In a matter of weeks, Democrats exchanged fists shaken in rage for those raised in triumph, as a slimmed-down reconciliation bill came abruptly back to life, bringing with it transformational and historic climate provisions.
You know it’s a solid-good bill because the GOP TreasonCaucus is screaming so loud.
Shaking fists and tears of despair, now turning to hope!
We’ll all be paying for someones beach house…
What galls me is that congress won’t allow FEMA to abandon the properties most at risk. And this…
f you’ve paid attention to American politics, however, you might have some clues about who will likely end up holding the bag here. Consider the Army Corps of Engineers proposal for Galveston Bay in Texas. Sea rise and aggressive surge threaten oil, gas and petrochemical facilities around Houston, which in turn threaten the entire region with toxins in the event of a major storm. So the corps has proposed a massive barrier across Galveston Bay, along with other coastal fortifications. Two-thirds of the total cost, currently projected at more than $30 billion, would be borne by federal taxpayers, with about a third covered by state and local taxpayers. The oil and gas industry, the folks who helped supercharge the seas while flashing some truly impressive profits along the way, would owe nothing.
Biden and Manchin saving the planet like a pair of geriatric superheroes.
But, the trains. What about the trains? Are we getting a bullet train? Maglev? Or, you know, reliable schedules and commuter train maintenance? What?
"The package has been hailed as the biggest climate bill in American history, and the description is more than fair. At the heart of the reconciliation package is roughly $369 billion in investments in climate and energy programs. This includes everything from tax credits for electric vehicles to methane reductions, energy-efficient home improvements to the launch of a National Climate Bank.
"It’s also a health care bill, empowering Medicare for the first time to negotiate the cost of some prescription medications with the pharmaceutical industry. It doesn’t apply to all medications, and the benefits won’t begin right away, but nevertheless, Democrats have spent years trying to get a breakthrough victory on this issue, and yesterday, they succeeded.
"What’s more, the bill includes a three-year extension on the Affordable Care Act subsidies that helped push the nation’s uninsured rate to an all-time low.
“Taken together, this represents the biggest legislative accomplishment of either party since the Affordable Care Act passed more than a decade ago …” – Steve Benen at Maddowblog on the historic nature of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, just passed by Senate Democrats.
I’m hoping the momentum carries through into November.
I’m sure Koch Industries will soon be filing a test case against it that they’ll run up to the Supreme Inferior court to overturn all of this. And they will, because they do what their paymasters tell them to.
When a “coal baron” from West Virginia is the deciding vote on the largest bill addressing climate change and clean energy in American history, you can pretty well assume climate change as a reality is now the accepted and uncontroversial view of most Americans. Because they see it with their own eyes semi-annually, if not more frequently, in their neighborhood flooding, the supercharged thunderstorms, and increased intensity of hurricanes. There’s nary a place in America where a person is safe from the vicissitudes of climate change, be it manifested in droughts or floods. So Republicans, SCOTUS, and their fossil fuel overlords can gnash their teeth as much as they like, but like big tobacco, their views will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. And we don’t have a moment to spare.
I think we’ve jumped the shark here, but in a good way.
An excellent bill hammered out through compromise puts winds in the sails for the Dems in the mid-terms. Remember when politics was the art of compromise? The Repubs don’t!! All they have is pissing and moaning about cultural issues and obstruction and sick, sick Trumpism.
Three button suit? Joe goes old school.
They made fools of themselves with their little hissy fit last week. They were raked over the coals on that one and couldn’t turn it around fast enough.
Joe deserves a victory lap as does Schumer for holding his patience with Sinema.
Can’t wait for the senate to have a big “D” majority so he can tell her to… well you know.
Ordinary American citizens get up, go to work every day without fanfare, and do what needs to be done. President Biden is one of those ordinary people. And, I hope he will attract similar folk to public service during his tenure.
Obviously President Biden is doing what Pope Francis and the Catholic Church wants, regarding the climate.
What’s wrong with that, Supreme Court? Whose side are you on, Republican Congress?
Socialization of costs; privatization of profits, just like the founders intended.
Sumthin’ t’ be said fer old farts!!!
LOL vid…