Tag: Manchin

Harris Has the Dem Nomination

Veep Harris has the Democratic nomination for president in hand [White House photo].

Vice President Kamala Harris has secured pledges from a majority of Democratic National Convention delegates Monday night, The Washington Post reports, which means she can count on becoming her party's presidential nominee when it moves forward with a special process August 7, ahead of the convention. The DNC is scheduled to begin August 19. Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) had expressed interest in switching parties back to Democratic in order to challenge Harris, but he apparently abandoned the notion by Sunday night.

--TL

Biden Bows Out -- MONDAY 7/22/24

By Todd Lassa

The number of Democratic lawmakers who called on Joe Biden to drop his re-election campaign topped 30 on Saturday. By Sunday morning, The New York Times reported that the president, holed up in his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, summer house with what was described as a mild case of COVID would not likely make any announcement until after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington Wednesday to address Congress, “unwilling to give the premier the satisfaction given their strained relations lately over the Gaza war.”

But that speculation was old news by Sunday afternoon, when President Biden posted a letter on X-Twitter announcing his withdrawal and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, to lead the ticket.

Like a primary candidate running a distant second who hangs in the race too long, Biden insisted he was in it ‘till the end, until suddenly, he was not. 

Unlike the primary scenario, this leaves Harris and any potential challengers very little time to cut Biden’s name off campaign signs already printed up. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago is scheduled to begin August 19. CNN reports that the Democratic National Committee is expected to hold a “virtual” roll call between August 1 and August 7. 

Alternatively, there also has been much talk about a mini-primary process consisting of town halls, debates and other candidate forums, though this sounds rather time consuming particularly at the height of summer vacation season. The DNC could also hold either an open convention or a brokered convention August 19-22, according to Forbes.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), the first Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to withdraw, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN Dems need to wait for other potential candidates and not rush to nominate Harris. 

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) told Martha Raddatz on ABC News This Week Sunday morning that it was time for Biden to withdraw. After the president withdrew, Manchin told two ABC News sources he is considering re-registering as a Democrat in order to run against Harris for the nomination.

First of what will surely become one of many Republican talking points targeting the likely Harris nomination is that she essentially “lied” to the American people by not saying anything about Biden’s diminishing capabilities, which were detailed by Olivia Nuzzi in New York magazine’s Intelligencer. Suddenly, Biden’s smashing State of the Union performance last March feels like it happened ages ago

Obituary: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee – The 15-term Democratic congresswoman serving Texas’ 18th District, including Houston, died Friday, age 74. Family did not list a cause of death, according to The New York Times, but last June Jackson Lee announced she had pancreatic cancer. Among her congressional accomplishments, Jackson Lee was the author and sponsor of legislation that in 2021 made Juneteenth a national holiday.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Senate Passes Inflation Reduction Act, 51-50

The Senate has passed the $739-billion Inflation Reduction Act 51-50, along party lines with Vice President Harris providing the tiebreaker, The Hill reports. The corporate tax/climate change/healthcare legislation survived a Vote-o-Rama that included an amendment by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) that extended a SALT cap (state and local deductions) that is part of the 2017 Trump tax cut bill. 

Ruled by the Senate parliamentarian as eligible for budget reconciliation, Democrats were able to pass it without fear of a Republican filibuster.

Thune’s amendment, which passed with the support of seven Democrats including Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema, was considered a threat to the bill because the deduction ceiling hurts many households in blue states and districts, according to The Hill’s report. But a subsequent amendment replaced the SALT cap extension with another revenue stream. Several Democrats offered hugs to Sinema as the vote on the final passage happened, the report says. 

Sinema’s support had been Democrats’ biggest concern after compromise on the bill, a heavily reduced version of President Biden’s $3-trillion-plus Build Back Better proposal, that was negotiated between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sinema ally Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Manchin Vindicated?

Where does Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) go for an apology? Anti-MAGA conservative columnist Tim Allen asks in The Bulwark<https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/joe-manchin-was-right-about-pretty> following the senator’s deal with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to introduce the Inflation Reduction Act tackling climate change, health care and pharmaceuticals and closing tax loopholes to pay for it all. 

But Republicans senators are much-less convinced, making it clear it will need a nod from the Senate parliamentarian to run the bill through budget reconciliation in order for it to pass without threat of a filibuster. 

Manchin was “taken to the cleaners” on Inflation Reduction, according to Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who has taken the heat for torpedoing the $400 billion veterans’ burn pit bill. 

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