Tag Archives : Build House

New York AG sues CVS, accuses company of violating antitrust laws

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Thursday filed a lawsuit against CVS Health, alleging that the company had violated antitrust laws and forced New York safety net hospitals to exclusively use a company that it owns when filling prescription through its pharmacies.

In her suit, James alleges that CVS is carrying out an “anticompetitive scheme” by forcing safety net hospitals within the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program to purchase administrative services through one of its subsidiaries, Wellpartner LLC.

CVS allegedly required these hospitals to purchase services through Wellpartner, a third party administrator (TPA) that it owns, if they wished to process 340B-eligible prescriptions through CVS pharmacies. This requirement was purportedly put in place after the pharmacy chain purchased Wellpartner in 2017.

The 340B Drug Pricing Program was created in 1992 and allowed safety net hospitals to buy outpatient drugs at a discount from manufacturers. These hospitals largely serve vulnerable communities where patients may not otherwise be able to afford medications.

According to James, CVS forced these hospitals to use its administrative service provider and caused them to either “forgo substantial savings from the 340B program” or lose out on savings they could have gained from using another service, noting there were benefits of having a choice of service providers in a “fully competitive” market.

James said in her suit that the patients of New York were the “ultimate victims” of CVS’s scheme.

“CVS’s actions undermine the aim of the 340B Program and hurt the financial condition of safety net healthcare providers,” the suit read. “With its illegal tie, CVS has harmed the competitive process and has caused substantial harm to the market for the provision of TPA Services in New York, foreclosing the ability of other TPA providers to compete on the merits.”

In a statement to The Hill, CVS said James’s allegations were “without merit” and that it planned to “vigorously” defend itself against the claims.

“We continue to be a partner to the State of New York in delivering a number of important healthcare solutions to the people of New York, as recently demonstrated by our sustained, robust efforts to ensure access to COVID testing and vaccinations across the state,” said CVS.

Source: TEST FEED1

Cartels are turning our national forests into a warzone

Hidden underneath the cover of our magnificent, forested lands in Northern California lies a dangerous multi-billion-dollar black market marijuana industry. Even though California legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2016, an illicit market still thrives. In 2019, the black market brought in nearly triple the profits in sales over California’s legal cannabis industry. Legalizing cannabis was unfortunately a misguided attempt by California’s Democrat-led legislature to curb rising rates of crime and illegal drug proliferation that only added fuel to the fire. Currently in California, residents can lawfully grow up to six cannabis plants on their private property, but legalizing cannabis at the state level reduced legal punishment of illegal grows to a misdemeanor. It’s a no-risk ‘slap on the wrist’ for growing seven plants or seven thousand plants, and you can earn millions doing it. Essentially, California’s refusal to deter illegal growing has targeted both our public and private lands as a prime area for the black market. Regardless of California’s decriminalization of cannabis, nothing about these grows is legal.  

Many people from throughout the state, nation and world come to the Emerald Triangle – the largest cannabis-producing region of the state, consisting of Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino counties – to work in the cannabis industry, and many don’t make it out. According to the North Coast Journal, the Emerald Triangle has the highest per-capita rate of people reported missing in California. These numbers are staggering, with local law enforcement outnumbered when combatting these massive, organized crime systems. Legalization has expanded this into neighboring counties and last year the body of a young woman who had been a victim of human trafficking was found in a shallow grave near a grow site. Cartels terrorize rural residents into giving up their land or seize uninhabited public land, destroying wildlife, and fueling crime.  

To cut corners and decrease input costs on their product, cartels bring in toxic chemicals, such as carbofuran, that are banned in the U.S. Without any kind of quality control, particles of these dangerous chemicals remain on the product and are ingested by users. These chemicals are so toxic that they destroy the surrounding plants and wildlife, and seep into the state’s water supply through rivers and streams, poisoning all who consume. These chemicals have turned thousands of acres of land into toxic waste dumps, decimating nearby animals and hospitalizing law enforcement officers who inadvertently encounter it during raids. Trash, illegal pesticides, large amounts of untreated human waste and fuel cover the ground that has been scraped bare of organic matter with nothing left but dust. 

Open-border policies have allowed cartel bosses to come and go at their leisure, bring in banned chemicals, illegal weapons, and trafficking people into the country for forced labor in their grows. Local law enforcement authorities conducting raids on illicit grow sites find foreign workers held against their will in third world conditions while they tend the crops destined for the black market. An estimated 80 percent of what is sold legally originates in the illegal grows. Buyers have no idea what they are ingesting despite the state’s claims of supervision and testing. As the demand for cheap illegal cannabis grows, so does the abuse and exploitation of women who are trafficked for “company” on the isolated farms. 

Areas where the cartels set up their farms are sparsely populated, and local officials don’t have the resources necessary to combat crime at this scale. Siskiyou County in far northern California has seen more than their fair share of cartel caused chaos spill over from the Emerald Triangle. The entire county had less than 44,000 residents in the 2020 census, but it is over five times the size of Rhode Island. There are not enough police, sheriffs, code enforcement agents to enforce our laws and make sure the people who are growing are permitted. Siskiyou County does not issue growing permits and yet there are over 8,000 illegal grows that have sprung up in the county, resulting in gang killings as well as intimidation of residents. 

Illegal cannabis cultivation is not the “green” gold rush we were sold – it destroys our scenic natural landscape and puts rural residents’ lives at risk. California’s – and the United States’ – growing embrace of cannabis products have only expanded the cartels’ reach. To combat this issue, I have introduced legislation to give resources to law enforcement to eradicate illegal marijuana grows on public lands, increase fines and penalties for such cultivation and establish a fund to restore land damaged by that activity. I would support increased penalties and law enforcement support for illegal private land grows as well. This level of criminality cannot be tolerated, we need to crack down on illegal grows.  

Doug LaMalfa represents California’s 1st District. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Senate Democrats propose $21 billion in new COVID-19 funding amid stalemate

Senate Democrats on Thursday unveiled a measure to provide $21 billion in emergency funding to fight COVID-19, but immediately ran into roadblocks from Republicans.  

The measure would provide funding for research on improved vaccines that can better combat new variants and allow for the purchasing of additional vaccines, tests and treatments.  

There has been a months-long battle over COVID-19 funding, however, and the latest move from Democrats did not lead to any signs of the showdown being resolved.  

“It’s not going anywhere right now,” Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Thursday of Democrats’ COVID-19 funding proposal.  

Democrats said the measure also could be used to fight “other emerging diseases,” amid increased talk of needing funding to fight monkeypox as well.  

Democrats released the bill alongside a sweeping package to fund the entire government next year, but that package is also a long way from passing given the need to reach a deal with Republicans and the potential for simply kicking the can down the road with stopgap bills to continue current funding levels.  

Republicans have long said they do not see an urgent need for the COVID-19 funding and have said any money should be paid for by cuts from previous relief packages.  

The response to the move from Senate Democrats highlights that there is still no resolution to provide new funding to fight the pandemic, despite months of dire warnings from the White House that the country’s response is suffering because of the shortfall.

“For months, the alarm has been raised that we are insufficiently prepared for the next phase of this pandemic,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said Thursday in making the case for the new funds. “We lack the necessary resources to support testing, sustain supplies of therapeutics, and procure the next generation of vaccines that will be vital to finally ending this pandemic.” 

The new funding would provide $16 billion for research, development and purchasing of next-generation vaccines, as well as tests and treatments. There is also $5 billion for global vaccination efforts, which are rapidly running out of funding.

The White House previously shifted some funding from other parts of the pandemic response to buy 105 million doses of updated vaccines for a fall campaign.  

But the Biden administration warned that to do so it was forced to cut from other areas, like maintaining testing capacity and researching next-generation vaccines that can target multiple variants of the virus at once.

“Supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments are expected to be exhausted within a month, and testing supplies have dwindled to little more than 300 million tests — far below the anticipated need of 1 billion to meet the demand as children return to school in the fall,” Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats said in a press release on the newly unveiled measure.

Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations health subcommittee, said that he had long supported more funding to fight the virus but that the Biden administration had a “credibility problem” after previously issuing warnings and then later shifting funds to meet some needs.  

Shelby also noted that COVID-19 funding was initially included in a bipartisan funding deal back in March and that it was a revolt from some House Democrats, who objected to cutting a portion of aid to states to pay for it, who forced it to be stripped out.  

“So obviously they didn’t think it was a priority,” Shelby said.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Hawley book 'Manhood' set for release next year

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is reportedly penning a book about masculinity.

“Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs” is poised to hit shelves in May, according to an Amazon sales page.

News of the book was first reported Thursday by the Kansas City Star.

Available for pre-order ahead of its May 16 release by Regnery Publishing, “Manhood” calls on “American men to stand up and embrace their God-given responsibility as husbands, fathers, and citizens.”

“A free society that despises manhood will not remain free,” the description for the $30 book reads.

“No republic has ever survived without men of character to defend what is just and true,” the Amazon page states. “Starting with the wisdom of the ancients, from the Greek and Roman philosophers to Jesus of Nazareth, and drawing on the lessons of American history, Hawley identifies the defining strengths of men, including responsibility, bravery, fidelity, and leadership.”

A Regnery spokeswoman and Hawley’s office didn’t immediately return ITK’s requests for comment.

The 42-year-old lawmaker made headlines last year during a speech at the National Conservatism Conference when he told the crowd that liberal attacks on masculinity created “idle men” who watch pornography and play video games.

“The left want to define traditional masculinity as toxic. They want to define the traditional masculine virtues — things like courage and independence and assertiveness — as a danger to society,” Hawley said at the time.

News of the book comes after Hawley, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, was widely mocked last week when the House committee investigating last year’s Jan. 6 Capitol riot released security video of him running away from the mob that was storming the building. Before fleeing the Capitol, Hawley was seen raising his fist in solidarity with pro-Trump protesters gathered outside the Capitol.

Hawley later accused the House select committee of “trolling” him, saying, “I do not regret anything I did on that day.”

Last year, Regnery, a conservative publishing house, picked up another Hawley book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” after it was dropped by Simon & Schuster in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack.

Source: TEST FEED1

Here's what millennials and Gen Z would do for a free home

Most young Americans still view homeownership as a sign of success, but rising home prices, material costs and inflation have made the process increasingly difficult.  

Yet, recent polling shows millennials and Gen Z are willing to make serious sacrifices for the chance to own a home – especially if it’s free. 

Cinch Home Services, a home warranty company based in Boca Raton, Florida, found in a poll conducted earlier this month that both generations are ready to publicly change political parties for a free, single-family home in the location they desire.  

More than half said they would publicly change their voter registration while 38 percent said they would be willing to live in a state with opposing politics. Another 21 percent said they would vote for a president they did not agree with.  

Young Americans are also ready to give up aspects of their social lives to attain homeowner status. Sixty-five percent would give up social media for a year and 28 percent said they would do the same with the internet.  

Roughly 43 percent are willing to give up their smartphones for good and revert to using flip phones.  

Apart from social and political status, young Americans indicated they would put off their careers, sacrifice having children and break-up with a partner for a free home. About 20 percent are willing to give up having children.  

Cinch Home Services surveyed 1,024 U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 41. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. 

Home prices in June were up 10.9 percent compared to last year with the median home price at nearly $428,000. 

Separate polling from May shows that 79 percent of homebuyers between the ages of 18 and 29 had help from their parents when purchasing their first home. One in 10 homeowners across all age groups said their parents purchased the property for them outright. 

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP group launches first-ever Spanish ad in key states

The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) rolled out its first Spanish-language ad in a number of swing states on Thursday, underscoring the GOP’s efforts to make inroads with Hispanic voters. 

The 30-second spot, part of a five-figure digital ad buy, will air in Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Nevada. The RSLC, which works to elect Republicans to state legislatures, has said that there are opportunities to flip chambers in all five states. 

The ad is titled “Respetan,” which means “to respect,” and accuses Democrats of taking Hispanic voters for granted. The Hill was the first outlet to report on the ad, which is the RSLC’s first Spanish-language spot. 

The effort is the latest from the Republican Party apparatus to make gains with Hispanic voters up and down the ballot. The National Republican Congressional Committee says it has recruited a total of 102 Hispanic candidates in this cycle, while the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched an initiative earlier this month that aims to help immigrants prepare for the naturalization test. The first course started in Doral, Fla., at the RNC Hispanic Community Center.

Polls also show the beginning of a shift in Hispanic support toward the GOP. A New York Times-Siena College poll this month found that only 41 percent of Hispanics said they intended to vote for Democrats in the upcoming midterms, while 38 percent said they preferred GOP candidates.

“Hispanic voters want good paying jobs, affordable goods, safe communities, and a quality education for their children, and the RSLC will keep deploying innovative voter contact tactics like this to remind them that those are all products of Republican leadership in the states,” said RSLC President Dee Duncan. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden’s looming winter of war — and discontent

The free world is on fire and President Biden and his national security team are still ostensibly proceeding as though it were the day before Pearl Harbor or 9/11. No equivalent of an Atlantic Charter on a global scale has been envisioned, let alone declared, and evidently the Pentagon has not been ordered to resume planning, preparing and scaling up to fight simultaneous wars with Russia and China, should this become necessary. The proverbial 2 a.m. call came to Biden on Feb. 24 when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and the telephone, effectively, at a global level has been ringing unanswered ever since.

Governments and economies of key NATO frontline allies are beginning to fall or falter under the weight of Putin’s counter-sanctions and lost trade. Italian Premier Mario Draghi was forced to resign as Italy, like many of its EU partners, is reeling from “soaring prices for everything from food to household utilities as a result of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.” Germany, in April, for the first time in 30 years, because of the decline of “German goods sold in Russia,” imported more than they exported.

As winter approaches, free Europe is in serious peril. Poland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia sitting on the frontlines opposite Belarus and Russia have been hardest hit economically outside of Ukraine. The EU is wavering in its economic commitments to Kyiv “as fears spike of [a] gas crisis at home.” And, disconcertingly, Putin is shrewdly recognizing his opening to create even more leverage come winter to undermine NATO by reopening — for now — the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Nor are the emerging existential risks to the U.S. limited to eastern Europe in the coming months. Beijing is threatening “forceful measures” over Taiwan. Iran continues to accelerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Plus, Russia, despite being kneecapped in Ukraine, is seeking a backdoor to Washington through Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Containment, for now, on a region-by-region basis appears to be the only watchword out of Washington. The notion of articulating a comprehensive global vision to ensure democracy triumphs over tyranny as Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill once did at the outset of World War II, is finding no currency in the White House. Biden appears to be more content declaring global war on climate change. The fallacy of this approach, however, is that the U.S. would be hard-pressed to take on “two conflicts at once,” as U.S. military officials continually have warned Congress.

It will not be enough. Biden’s national security team needs a reset — they are failing the president, the United States, and our allies. They are reactionary, desynchronized and without a clear global strategy or end state — a collective body playing Whac-A-Mole to every emerging crisis. As the upcoming winter reaches its coldest months, they will be confronted with a nuclear capable Iran and an Israeli government forced to do something about it.

Countering the China threat in the Pacific, particularly Taiwan, is a monumental task. China is not Russia. Beijing is outspending the U.S. in military capability in the Pacific and threatens to overwhelm the U.S. and its allies. Adm. John Aquilino, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said the U.S. military desperately needs more of the “critical capabilities” that will allow it to operate effectively in “contested space.” China will continue to intimidate Taiwan and to seek hegemony throughout the Pacific Rim.

Washington needs a winning plan — but that plan will not come about unless Biden embraces a new national security team that stops subordinating U.S. foreign policy to the domestic identity politics of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. We are at war. Debate the nomenclature if you must, but whether you call it “World War III” or a proxy war or something in between, the new reality ever since Russia invaded Ukraine is that the free world is facing down existential threats.

Biden’s recent trip to the Middle East is a case in point regarding the futility of his current national security team yielding to identity politics. Biden’s regional approach to his diplomacy and the adverse reaction to it in Washington laid bare just how chilling it is for a foreign policy to be devoid of its own identity in order to not offend domestic identity stakeholders, whether they are anti-war, human rights advocates, or those opposed to totalitarian regimes.

Yes, you might win an individual just battle here or there, including taking a stand against Saudi Arabia for the unjustifiable murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But you needlessly risk losing far wider reaching just wars, such as preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon or attaining more oil for Europe in time for winter.

Moreover, on the most significant issue of our time — whether liberty will prevail over tyranny — the Progressive Caucus gave us their answer. Freedom is not worth the cost. They screamed that, loud and clear, when they greeted Biden’s return from the Mideast by tweeting, “There is no reason for [Biden’s] $839 billion defense budget.”

Enough is enough. Biden must boot White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and the national security team from the West Wing. They are not setting the conditions needed to prevail over Russia, China, Iran or North Korea. Aside from suffocating progressive influence, they appear to be rudderless, without direction, and at the mercy of dangerous crosscurrents coming at the U.S. from all directions.

Imagine winning World War II without FDR or Churchill. And yet, here we are. John Steinbeck’s novel, “The Winter of our Discontent,” is manifesting itself. Biden is gripped by the societal and political dysfunction of the progressives and his national security team — and he is failing to find a way to rise above it to provide the free world the global leadership it demands and needs in a time of war.

Mark Toth is a retired economist, historian and entrepreneur who has worked in banking, insurance, publishing and global commerce. He is a former board member of the World Trade Center, St. Louis, and has lived in U.S. diplomatic and military communities around the world, including London, Tel Aviv, Augsburg and Nagoya. Follow him on Twitter @MCTothSTL. 

Jonathan Sweet, a retired Army colonel, served 30 years as a military intelligence officer. His background includes tours of duty with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the Intelligence and Security Command. He led the U.S. European Command Intelligence Engagement Division from 2012-14, working with NATO partners in the Black Sea and Baltics. Follow him on Twitter @JESweet2022.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Manchin declines to endorse Biden reelection

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday sidestepped the question of whether he’d endorse President Biden if he ran for reelection in 2024.

“If Joe Biden runs again and he is the Democratic nominee, depending on who the Republican nominee is, we will just have to wait and see,” Manchin told NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo in an interview released Thursday on “The Chris Cuomo Project.”

The centrist senator has leveraged his vote in a 50-50 Senate to set the terms of the Democratic agenda, particularly with the Build Back Better Act, which he scuttled over fears of further inflation.

This week, however, Manchin struck an unexpected agreement with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), producing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a scaled-down version of the economic package.

The $670 billion reconciliation bill would invest in domestic energy, lower prescription drug costs, combat climate change and reduce the deficit by closing tax loopholes on wealthy individuals and corporations. 

Manchin’s deal has been lauded by President Biden and by former President Obama, but the senator still wasn’t ready to back his party’s sitting leader.

“I am not predicting anything or how I would support or not support, or get involved or not. But I can tell you this: Whoever the elected president is — Democrat, Republican or independent — every one of us should pray that they succeed,” Manchin said Thursday.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Presented by McDonald's — Biden celebrates Senate deal amid new grim economic numbers

NEWS THIS MORNING 

Honey, I Shrunk the Economy:  

U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk for the second-straight quarter this year, according to new data released by the Commerce Department.  

How much?: GDP fell at a yearly pace of 0.9 percent. “Put simply, the U.S. economy would shrink by nearly 1 percent if the second quarter’s pace of growth lasted for an entire year.” 

So, are we in a recession?: “Two straight quarters of negative economic growth have long been used as a rule of thumb to determine when the U.S. is in recession and is the formal threshold for a recession in other countries. But economists in the U.S. consider a broader range of data when determining if the U.S. is in recession.”  

^ That broader range of data: “The U.S. has added 2.7 million jobs since the start of 2022 and consumer spending has continued to increase even amid high inflation. Economists say it may be too soon to know if the U.S. is in recession, if at all, given the strength of the job market.”   

PRESIDENT BIDEN’S REACTION — LOOK OVER HERE!: 

Instead of focusing on the grim news of a shrinking GDP and a potential recession, President Biden responded to this morning’s news by highlighting the strong job market. 

Biden said in a statement: “But even as we face historic global challenges, we are on the right path and we will come through this transition stronger and more secure. Our job market remains historically strong, with unemployment at 3.6% and more than 1 million jobs created in the second quarter alone. Consumer spending is continuing to grow.” 

➤ ADDED TO BIDEN’S SCHEDULE LATE THIS MORNING: 

President Biden delivered remarks on the reconciliation bill — or the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — at noon. Livestream 

For context to Biden’s day yesterday: Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove pointed out, “Biden woke up [yesterday] in Covid isolation, awaiting a second negative test and a vote on the chips bill. [By last night, he was] out of isolation, the chips bill passed the Senate and he’s celebrating a deal between Manchin and Schumer on a major policy bill. Quite the day.” 

➤ ‘HOW RECESSIONS HAUNTED THREE PRESIDENTS, AND HOW TWO OTHERS RECOVERED’: 

Via The Hill’s Niall Stanage, “Here are five presidents who tried to navigate stormy economic seas — with very different results.” 

The losers: President Hoover, President Carter and President George H.W. Bush 

The winners: President Reagan and President Obama 

Short explainers for each of the five 

➤ ‘FIVE WAYS THE FED INTEREST RATE HIKE WILL IMPACT AMERICANS’ WALLETS’: 

From The Hill’s Aris Folley 

IT’S THURSDAY. I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here. 

🍪 In Congress 

No one move a muscle:

After what felt like decades of negotiating, centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have finally reached a deal on a social spending reconciliation bill (!) 

The gist of what’s in the bill — climate, health and taxes: “It would invest $369 billion in energy-focused climate programs over the next 10 years and $300 billion to reduce the deficit. It would be added to legislation to lower prescription drug prices and extend expiring health care subsidies.”  

Keep in mind: It’s only a fraction of what progressive Democrats had envisioned, but the party will take this as a win. Manchin had been concerned about exacerbating inflation and was hesitant to many of the provisions Democrats had wanted. 

Breakdown of what’s in the bill, via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton 

One-page summary of the deal: Screenshot from Reuters’ David Shepardson 

Potential timing: CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted, “Assuming the bill is cleared by the parliamentarian to be approved along straight party lines in reconciliation, Senate Democrats may be able to get this bill approved by next week.” 

Get excited: Bloomberg’s Steven Dennis tweeted, “Next week: VOTE-A-RAMA. Hope you all are as stoked as I am for an all-nighter of Senatorial madness.”  

➤ LOBBYISTS REPRESENTING BIG CORPORATIONS ARE *NOT* HAPPY ABOUT THIS BILL:

Via The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom 

➤ COMPLICATING MATTERS FOR DEMS — ANOTHER SENATOR HAS COVID: 

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 1 Democrat in the Senate, announced this morning that he tested positive for COVID-19. Durbin said he is experiencing “minor symptoms,” but this could complicate the Senate’s vote timing before August recess. 

Every single lawmaker and lobbyist in Washington is looking at Kyrsten Sinema right now: 

All of the attention has been on Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) hesitancy with proposals in Democrats’ reconciliation bill, but another senator could blow up the deal: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) 

In the 50-50 Senate, Democrats would need every Democrat on board.  

What Sinema’s spokesperson said after the deal was announced, according to Axios: “We do not have a comment, as she will need to review the text.”  

HuffPost’s Igor Bobic tweeted: “The number of lobbyists frantically trying to reach Sinema’s office now must be unreal.”  

It’s funny how that happened: 

Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman rattled off the timing, “So McConnell and [R]epublicans said they wouldn’t pass chips if reconciliation was alive. They passed chips. Dems revived reconciliation hours after chips passed.”  

^ So, now: House Republican leadership is urging its members to vote against the CHIPS-Plus bill to encourage domestic semiconductor production. 

Can Democrats pass the semiconductor bill without Republican support?: “When asked Wednesday if Democrats have enough votes to pass the semiconductor bill alone if Republicans were to oppose the measure, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told The Hill, ‘I hope so.’”  

So, there’s that.  

The full back and forth, via The Hill’s Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks 

🦠 Latest with COVID 

➤ THE COVID-19 NUMBERS 

Cases to date: 90.6 million 

Death toll: 1,023,382 

Current hospitalizations: 37,531 

Shots administered: 601 million 

Fully vaccinated: 67.2 percent of Americans 

CDC data here. 

🐥Notable tweets 

This made me laugh: 

Elon Musk tweeted, “A new philosophy of the future is needed. I believe it should be curiosity about the Universe – expand humanity to become a multiplanet, then interstellar, species to see what’s out there.” 

USA Today’s Rex Huppke responded: “Sir, there are several people behind you in line, could you please place your order?”  

⏱On tap 

The House and Senate are in. President Biden is in Washington, D.C. Vice President Harris is in New York. 

• 8:30 a.m.: Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 
• 9:30 a.m.: Biden received the President’s Daily Briefing. 
• 11:30 a.m.: First House votes. Today’s House agenda 
• 11:35 a.m.: Harris left for New York City. 
• 1:30 p.m.: Harris tours the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Economic Solutions Center. 
• 1:45 p.m.: The Senate holds a confirmation vote. Today’s Senate agenda 
• 3:25 p.m.: Harris delivers remarks on investment in underserved communities, financial institutions and small businesses. 
• 4:40 p.m.: Harris travels to Water Mill, N.Y. 
• 5 p.m.: Last House votes. 
• 6:50 p.m.: Harris speaks at a finance event. 
• 8 p.m.: Harris returns to Washington, D.C. 

All times Eastern. 

📺What to watch 

• Noon: Biden delivered remarks on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Livestream 
• 2:15 p.m.: Biden delivers remarks on the economy and meets with CEOs to discuss the economy. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, attend. Livestream 
• 3:15 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing. Livestream 

🍫 In lighter news 

Today is National Milk Chocolate Day. 

Sprite is ditching its iconic green bottle: 

Coca-Cola Co. announced this morning that it will transition to a clear bottle for Sprite in an effort to be more sustainable. The full story from NBC News’ Marlene Lenthang 

And to leave you with a smile, here’s a very tired puppy after a long day.  

Source: TEST FEED1

McCarthy rails against chips bill, Democrats in extensive floor speech

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tied together inflation, government data showing the second consecutive quarter of a contracting economy, the Senate-passed bill to support the chip industry and the Democratic climate, health care and tax package in an extensive floor speech Thursday morning. 

“This morning, the government announced what every American has been feeling for nearly a year: We are in a recession,” McCarthy said. 

His remarks came as the House took up the Senate-passed CHIPS-Plus domestic chip manufacturing and scientific research funding bill on Thursday.

“The Senate passed a bill that took a small, discretionary program and turned it into a $280 billion blank check, including $79 billion in mandatory spending on corporate welfare to be handed out to whoever President Biden wants,” McCarthy said. 

“I’m a no on the Senate CHIPS bill that will come to the floor today. I was a no last week. I was a no last night. And I will be the first no on the board today,” McCarthy said. “I encourage all my Republican colleagues to join me.”

It marked McCarthy’s second-longest floor speech at about 28 minutes, according to a tweet from McCarthy’s digital communications director. Last year, he broke a House record by delivering an eight-hour, 32-minute speech delaying a House vote on Democrats’ Build Back Better spending and climate package that later stalled in the Senate due to objections from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

Manchin, shortly after the Senate passed the chips bill on Wednesday with Republican support, announced he had reached a deal on a climate, health care and taxes package with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Titled the Inflation Reduction Act, the bill would use a special reconciliation process to bypass the need for Republican votes in the evenly divided Senate. That enraged Republicans, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had said he would withhold support from CHIPS-Plus if Democrats pursued a reconciliation bill on those topics.

House Republicans later on Wednesday sent out a notice that they will formally whip against the CHIPS-Plus bill, citing the Senate moving forward on a reconciliation bill along with concerns about spending and inflation.

“They say they want to restore growth, but their new bill adds $700 billion in new taxes,” McCarthy said of the Senate deal. “Do Democrats really believe spending hundreds and billions of tax dollars right now while pursuing and punishing productive investments in the long run will lower inflation?”

McCarthy’s floor speech Thursday morning also served as a main campaign argument for House Republicans as they head toward the August recess and midterm campaign season.

“We all know across this country what caused inflation: Democrats winning the House, the Senate and the presidency,” McCarthy said.

Source: TEST FEED1