Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist appeared yesterday on “Varney & Co.” on Fox Business to discuss Democrats’ path forward to pass their socialist tax-and-spend plan with host Stuart Varney.
Norquist discussed recent comments by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that Democrats would split the massive multi-trillion dollar legislation into several smaller bills.
Norquist predicted that this strategy will not work and is a simple admission that Senator Schumer isn’t capable of getting the votes he needs to pass the entire package:
“Well, it’s an admission that Schumer cannot put together a package that would get the votes of Manchin and Sinema and the rest of the Democratic Senate. So, I don’t think it works. At the end of the day, you have to put it all together to get a reconciliation vote, which passes with 51 votes – you need to have it all in one package. You can’t say, “Here are ten spending bills let’s vote for all of them separately to show how generous we are with other people’s money” and not include the taxes. At the end of the day, both Sinema and Manchin have repeatedly said in writing that they won’t change the filibuster. Unless you get rid of the filibuster, or bend it, or put a hole in it, you can’t pass those separate bills because Republicans will filibuster them…He’s trying to do something to look like he’s doing something.”
Norquist also explained that Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz) have different priorities when it comes to negotiating the spending plan, making it difficult to find a compromise:
“Manchin and Sinema oppose different types of taxes. Sinema doesn’t mind massive tax increases on “pollution.” Manchin doesn’t want to tax energy, but he is willing to tax businesses and individuals. There isn’t a single Fortune 500 company in West Virginia so he can support all sorts of taxes he feels hurt larger companies. There are eight Fortune 500 companies in Arizona – Sinema is not going to tolerate raising the corporate rate, she said so. That’s why it’s off the table.”
Finally, Norquist noted the many other issues that President Biden faces in the new year including COVID-19, inflation, and his failed, socialist agenda:
“Well, his first year he didn’t fix COVID, he didn’t improve the COVID situation, even with the vaccines, so that was his number one claim to fame, that’s why he said he beat Trump. Then, he created inflation which had been 1.3% or 1.4% and is now going up toward Jimmy Carter territory. He didn’t pass the permanent massive spending bills to buy his constituencies’ favor for the next election. So now he’s in year two with a COVID problem that he was supposed to have fixed and inflation problem in which he “doesn’t know where it came from!” So he’s got a whole bunch of self-inflicted wounds and his to-do list is what we just talked about: massive tax increases on businesses and self-employed people, all new sorts of regulatory regimes… He’s now running as Bernie’s co-president.”