Staff Reports
Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who vetoed outrageous spending measures, signed up to Build Back Better. Manchin secured $6.6 billion for a West Virginia natural gas pipeline from Chuck Schumer. The Examiner reports.
Sinema wants to add $5 billion to the package for water resiliency measures and opposes addressing the carried interest loophole.
Corruption.
The government's tricks.
Democrats are focused on extending Obamacare spending and punishing pharma firms while Americans worry about inflation and the economy.
If Democrats succeed, they'll raise inflation and kill medical innovation.
OBAMACARE'S 3-YEAR SUBSIDY EXPANSION KILLS MEDICARE
The Inflation Reduction Act, called Build Back Better, employs budget tactics and shreds Medicare to centralize medicine at the cost of inflation, according to Mike Palicz of Americans for Tax Reform.
The bill would impose a 95% excise tax on pharma producers to extend Obamacare subsidies for three years.
These subsidies were boosted last March by increasing benefits for all income levels and removing the eligibility restriction for Obamacare premium tax credits. These credits were capped at 400% of the poverty line, or $54,000 per person.
This significant extension of Obamacare payments was presented as "temporary COVID-19 relief" in Democrats' $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, which worsened inflation. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors agrees that "domestic fiscal stimulus led to supply chain bottlenecks and price tensions" in the U.S.
Democrats want to increase inflation.
Budget tricks, Medicare cuts to expand Obamacare
Budget tricks hide genuine costs. They'll delay seniors' Part D rebates again, likely permanently. So, Democrats may claim $120 billion in paper savings.
Democrats say they offset Obamacare expansion by negotiating Medicare medicine pricing. Democrats propose a 95% excise tax on prescription medicine earnings unless manufacturers agree HHS price regulations.
The tax generates nothing. The tax requires HHS price restrictions.
Venezuela is us.
Democrats are reducing Medicare prescription drug costs, but not until 2026. Immediate spending causes inflation.
Throughout the three-year extension, Democrats will run deficits. Congress will undoubtedly renew them and add to the deficit.
Beyond inflation, Democrats' medication price limits are a failure.
Supply shortages make price controls ineffective. CBO said manufacturers' revenue could drop $1 trillion over the next decade. It would "decrease R&D spending and new drug introductions." The agency amended its original assessment to prevent 50% more new medications.
Democrats say the measure fights inflation, yet it targets medical care prices least affected by inflation.
Prescription medicine prices jumped 0.1% in June and 2.5% year-over-year. Inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1% last year.
They favor centralized medicine over inflation.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Independent Sentinel.
