Manchin, Republicans differ on climate, energy, health care deal

WASHINGTON — The potential economic impact of a $739 billion climate, energy and health care package negotiated by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin dominated the Sunday morning political talk shows as Manchin praised the proposal as a debt reducer while Republicans argued it would lead to more inflation.

Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is the Senate majority leader, and Manchin (D-W.Va.), a conservative-leaning Democrat and critical swing vote, negotiated the package for weeks behind closed doors, emerging with a compromise deal last Wednesday that surprised Republicans on Capitol Hill who thought the discussion on the package was all but dead.

The package, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, aims to revive key parts of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure agenda focused on tackling climate change, reducing the price of prescription drugs, and rescinding some of the Trump-era tax cuts extended to corporations.

“This is going to help take us to a place of prosperity,” Manchin said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I truly believe in my heart that we’re going to have more energy produced. We’re going to be able to help our geopolitical partners around the world who are in desperate need of our energy, and we're going to be energy independent and we're going to be able to invest in energy of the future.”

The bill, which is backed by Biden, calls for reducing the national deficit by $300 billion and commits $370 billion for spending in clean energy and climate, which Manchin argued would help drive down higher than average energy costs and overall inflation.

“How can it add flames to the inflation fires right now if you're paying down debt, you're increasing more production from fossil industry in energy, and we're doing it cleaner [than] anywhere in the world?” Manchin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We will be energy-independent. We're making our batteries for our cars to be made here in America … We're doing everything we can to make sure that we attack the problem.”

Senate Republicans criticized the sweeping proposal, arguing increased government spending will continue to drive up inflation levels and drive U.S. manufacturers overseas.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), appearing on “This Week” after Manchin, shared concerns raised to him by a local manufacturer worried about the potential for an increased business tax rate.

“He’s just like having to increase wages to attract workers, and now we’re going to increase his taxes as much as we’re going to,” Cassidy said. “Manufacturers can choose to set up in the United States or choose to move to Asia. I think what we’re doing is inducing them to move to Asia. You can have a disinflationary program by causing a recession. I think this is going to lead to a worse recession.”

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told CBS’ “Face the Nation” he believed “all of this spending is unnecessary. It's going to exacerbate inflation.”

“They're also not taking into account how much our economy will slow down from this big corporate tax increase that will mostly hurt manufacturing and domestic investment,” Toomey said of Democrats. “These numbers are very, very dubious.”

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which analyzes the potential cost of legislation, has yet to offer an analysis of the Schumer-Manchin proposal.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.