Let's just remove the fig leaves from the attempted justification for Senate Republicans voting down the Honoring our PACT Act by the former head of " Club for 'Growth' " (ironic since this is an extremely right wing group which supports Republican candidates and officeholders and the last 3 presidents who were/are Republicans led us into serious recessions and the last 3 presidents who reduced the deficit are all members of the Democratic Party) .
"Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey said in a brief interview after the vote that he wanted to address a “budget gimmick” in the bill that he believes would lead to an increase in spending unrelated to providing health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits. Toomey said he had “no quarrel with” the legislation creating $278.5 billion in new spending during the next decade that would be classified as “mandatory.”
Toomey’s opposition to the bill comes from a separate section of the package that “would authorize $400 billion over the next 10 years of existing spending … to be switched from discretionary to mandatory. And the reason for that, is to create a $40 billion annual hole in discretionary spending under the cap,” Toomey said. “And allow all kinds of spending on who knows what
Tester argued that Toomey’s objection was about the retiring Pennsylvania senator’s lack of trust in his colleagues. Tester said going along with Toomey’s proposed changes to the bill would tie the hands of the Appropriations Committee in the future.
“This is about not even trusting the people in this body. We have an Appropriations Committee, and we vote on appropriations bills,” Tester said, clearly furious. “Let the process work. Let’s not tie the hands of appropriators. Let’s make sure we let the process work. That’s what we’ve always done. "
From: idahocapitalsun.com/.
Did you catch that? This isn't something new introduced into the the bill that passed 84-14. This is Toomey complaining about and refusing to vote for the bill that passed 84-14 because of something ALREADY IN THAT BILL THAT PASSED 84-14.
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The issue Toomey is bringing up isn't new to the bill. It was already in the original version of the bill. If it was so fucking important, then why did the vast majority of Senate Republicans vote for the bill when that contained this "issue"? There is no rational or reasonable answer to that question. Since this "issue" was in the original bill, then this isn't the reason why 25 Senate Republicans switched their votes.
So what's new that would account for the change in the vote by Senate Republicans? Something important enough for McConnell to threaten the semiconductor bill ? Something that angered Senator Cornyn ? The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 which addresses climate change on a smaller but still significant scale compared to Build Back Better. McConnell threatened something that
Manchin made his announcement shortly after the CHIPS+ bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support. Previously, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had threatened to hold that bill hostage if Democrats pursued reconciliation. After CHIPS+ was approved, however, Democrats appeared freer to make progress and put forth this deal.
And
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who voted for the chips and science bill, had vowed to block the legislation if Democrats stuck to their plans to pass a reconciliation bill that raised taxes and spent hundreds of billions of dollars on climate-related programs.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), a member of the GOP leadership team who also voted for the chips bill, blasted Manchin’s deal with Schumer and his office accused the West Virginia senator of having “flip-flopped.”
Irony alert: Senator Cornyn who is calling Senator Manchin a “flip flopper” did his own flip-flop on the Honoring our PACT Act.
Here is the list of the flip floppers:
Of the 41 Senators who chose to turn their backs on sick veterans yesterday, 25 voted yes on the same bill last month before a technicality required a second vote. IAVA calls on each of these Senators to explain to the American public what caused them to change their minds between their June 16th vote in favor of sick veterans and yesterday when they turned their backs on them. Find your Senator’s office number here. Ask them to vote yes on the Honoring Our PACT Act.
The names and Twitter handles of these 25 Senators are listed below:
Sen. Barrasso – @SenJohnBarrasso
Sen. Blackburn – @MarshaBlackburn
Sen. Blunt – @RoyBlunt
Sen. Braun – @SenatorBraun
Sen. Cassidy – @SenBillCassidy
Sen. Cornyn – @JohnCornyn
Sen. Cotton – @SenTomCotton
Sen. Cramer – @SenKevinCramer
Sen. Cruz – @SenTedCruz
Sen. Ernst – @SenJoniErnst
Sen. Fischer – @SenatorFischer
Sen. Hagerty – @SenatorHagerty
Sen. Hawley – @SenHawleyPress
Sen. Hyde-smith – @SenHydesmith
Sen. Johnson – @SenRonJohnson
Sen. Inhofe – @JimInhofe
Sen. Kennedy – @SenKennedy
Sen. Marshall – @RogerMarshallMD
Sen. McConnell – @LeaderMcConnell
Sen. Portman – @SenRobPortman
Sen. Sasse – @SenSasse
Sen. Scott, Rick – @SenRickScott
Sen. Scott, Tim – @SenatorTimScott
Sen. Sullivan – @SenDanSullivan
Sen. Young – @SenToddYoung
Reuters
Now these unpatriotic partisans are threatening the CHIPS act
The Chips Act looked likely to easily pass the U.S. House of Representatives, where it’s heading next, until Congressional Democrats threw a curveball. Shortly after the Senate passed the Chips Act on Wednesday, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) revealed his support for a separate spending package that revives elements of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. Senate Republicans had only voted on the Chips Act because the comprehensive spending package seemed dead without Machin’s support. Now, some Republicans say they feel duped, and Republican leadership may urge House Republicans to vote against the Chips Act to retaliate, leaving fewer votes on offer for U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the narrow Democratic majority to pass the long-awaited semiconductor subsidies.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted in favor of the bill, along with 16 other Republican senators. Republicans who voted against the Chips Act had earlier criticized it as violating free-market principles or not doing enough to bar funding recipients from investing in China. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who had earlier decried the money as a “blank check” to already-profitable companies, also voted against the bill.
Funding semiconductor manufacturing garners strong bipartisan support in the House, including from key House Republican representatives like Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and John Katko (R-N.Y.), who serve as ranking members on the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security subcommittees respectively. On July 1, McConnell said there would be no Republican votes for any Senate effort towards chips or other innovation-related measures “so long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill.
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Gee, those partisan democrats doing exactly what Senate Republicans did for the more than TWO TRILLION DOLLAR Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations. And Senate Republicans are upset that Senator Joe Manchin dared to vote with his own caucus? Senator Cornyn voted for the budget reconciliation bill as did Senator McConnell. So, that dog doesn’t hunt either. What it comes down to then is that the Senate Republicans are upset that they lost the legislative battle. And they care more about getting revenge than national security and taking care of our veterans.
What this also tells us is that when push comes to shove, ALL Senate Republicans ask, “How high?” when Minority Leader McConnell says, “Jump!” They will screw over the country and veterans to get revenge.
By the way, the amount that Toomey refers to, $40B, is not even one tenth of the Defense budget which is about $680B annually and not even one percent of the $23 Trillion Gross Domestic Product [sum total of the value of all the goods and services of the US] (annually). Republicans haven’t reduced the deficit since before President Reagan took office. Moreover, Toomey is complaining about what $40 Billion is spent on before he knows what that is. For all he knows, it will be spent on something that he agrees upon. And whatever it is, the US Senate will have to approve it. If it is a mistake, then voters can hold them accountable for it.