🇺🇸 Climate, Congress, Cash

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FLAG POLLS

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 39, Disapprove 53 (IBD/TIPP)

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 45, Disapprove 54 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Direction of Country: Right Track 28, Wrong Track 66 (Rasmussen Reports)

TRENDING

Left: Trump Complained His Generals Did Not Act Enough Like Hitler's (Huffington Post)

Left: Why the most competitive congressional districts are disappearing (CNN)

Left: The Terrifying Prospect of a Republican War on Antidepressants (Slate)

Right: ‘This Is Horrific’: NYC Mayor Slams Texas For Sending Illegal Aliens To Big Apple (Daily Wire)

Right: AOC's district saw 57% increase in major crimes under tenure (Washington Examiner)

Right: Taxes on Fuel, Business, Medicines, and More in ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ (Breitbart)

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QUICK CLICKS

Trump Raided, Gaza Power Plant, Mistakes in Afghanistan

US: Trump Says the Feds Raided Mar-a-Lago: ‘They Even Broke Into My Safe!’ (Rolling Stone)

World: As Israel-Palestinian truce holds, Gaza power plant restarts (AP)

US: Petraeus points to 20 years of ‘significant mistakes’ in Afghanistan as US withdrawal anniversary approaches (The Hill)

US: Biden decries 'heartbreaking' Kentucky flood devastation, links it to climate change (Fox News)

US: Family of Gabby Petito Will File $50M Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Moab Police After Recorded Encounter (People)

World: Ukraine, Russia trade blame for nuclear plant shelling amid global alarm (Reuters)

US: Earth broke the record for the shortest day since atomic clocks were invented (CNN)

US: 'Grease' Star Olivia Newton-John Has Passed Away at 73 Years Old (Cosmopolitan)

US: Police departments struggle with staffing shortages (Axios)

World: Agreement on nuclear deal within reach but obstacles remain (POLITICO)

US: How Dr. Martens boots may have saved woman in White House lightning strike (NY Post)

POLITICS

Climate, Congress, Cash

On Sunday the Senate passed the “Inflation Reduction Act,” which includes $369 billion in spending for efforts aimed at combating climate change, as well as adjustments to the tax code, and the ability for Medicare to negotiate drug prices. The final tally was 51 to 50 along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

News Coverage from the Right: Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Would Increase Taxes on Most Americans (American Greatness)

News Coverage from the Left: Senate passes Democrats' sweeping health care and climate bill (CNN)

From The Flag: Last week when Senator Joe Manchin indicated he’d support the bill we gathered what both sides were saying. Here’s the latest commentary as the bill moves to the House of Representatives.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Better Late Than Never: Democrats Deliver for Americans

• While passing the bill is obviously important in terms of what it will accomplish, it also shows the American political system isn’t broken.

• The Biden administration seemed lost for months amid the push for this kind of spending, and this represents a major victory.

• There are nearly half a dozen key areas of focus where this spending package will help American families.

“Senate Democrats strike a blow against cynicism — and hopelessness” E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post Opinion: “Biden had pledged to put the United States at the forefront of efforts to reduce the world’s dependency on carbon-emitting fuels and proposed an ambitious program to begin this journey. If Congress had done nothing, the United States would have squandered any claim of global leadership on one of the central challenges of our time. It also would have been a signal that our political system is so dysfunctional that it could not even enact comparatively painless, positive incentives for moving toward cleaner energy. … The realist view accepts that voters don’t tote around lists of bills passed by Congress but insists that most of them do notice when the system seems to be working — or failing. … Nothing feeds cynicism about democracy and collective action more than abject institutional failure. That’s why what happened on Sunday matters. Despite partisan obstruction, arcane rules and dilatory habits, the Senate struck a blow against hopelessness.”

“Democrats Discover Winning Feels Good” Zachary D. Carter, The American Prospect: “Senate Democrats appear to be having an epiphany. … pledging $370 billion for domestic manufacturing and green energy production, money that will support everything from new solar panels to electrical grid upgrades to electric vehicles. It is a stunning turn of events. Only last month, Joe Biden’s presidency was whimpering into oblivion, doomed by the obstinance of self-styled moderates in his own party to consider serious investments in the country’s economic future. But with the sudden, unexpected support of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Democrats seem to have at last turned the page on a quarter-century of dysfunctional trade policy and established a new model for green industrial policy in the United States. This is the kind of serious, ambitious economic policymaking that Biden called for in early 2021, and it arrives not a moment too soon.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: 5 ways the Inflation Reduction Act will help American families Van Jones and Jessie Buendia, CNN Business Opinion

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Higher Drug Prices, More Taxes, and Broken Promises

• Because the legislation allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices, individuals with private insurance are going to spend more.

• Congressional Democrats are failing to keep their campaign promises by supporting a bill that doesn’t repeal the SALT cap.

• This spending package will cause higher inflation and raised taxes, while funding is included for 87,000 new IRS agents.

“Democrats Vote to Raise Drug Prices” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: “Democrats who passed the Schumer-Manchin bill on Sunday voted to raise drug costs and health premiums for 220 million privately insured Americans. That isn’t hyperbole. It’s the inevitable economic result of Medicare drug price controls after the Senate parliamentarian this weekend struck the bill’s inflation rebates. Democrats know their Medicare take-it-or-leave-it drug “negotiations”—i.e., price controls—could have spill-over effects on the commercial market. This was one argument they made to the Senate parliamentarian for keeping the bill’s requirement that drug makers pay Medicare rebates if they raise prices in the commercial market higher than inflation. If drug makers must give Medicare steep discounts on certain drugs, they will compensate by increasing prices in the commercial market. … This is what has happened in healthcare more broadly. Medicare has long paid hospitals and physicians below the cost of treating patients. To compensate, hospitals and physicians charge private insurance plans more.”

“House Dems Drop SALT Pledges To Back Manchin Bill” Susan Crabtree, Real Clear Politics: “The measure… is once again highlighting failed pledges by many House Democrats representing pricey coastal areas to oppose any tax bill unless it also restores the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes. Dozens of House Democrats from California, New York, and New Jersey have spent years arguing that the limits on the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT, included in the 2017 Trump administration tax cut package amounted to a big tax increase on middle-class families… Many of these same Democrats won their seats after launching aggressive attacks against Republicans for voting for the 2017 tax package that included a $10,000 limit on the SALT deduction. … In the end, however, the Democrats caved to their leadership’s pressure and still voted in favor of several big spending bills that either jettisoned the SALT repeal in the final versions or failed to include it at all.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: The misnamed Inflation Reduction Act: A pointless giveaway to special interests Michael McKenna, Washington Times Opinion

FLAG THIS

Wide-Ranging Opinions, Increased Inflation Expectation

A recent poll asked Americans if they support the spending package. Just over half (51%) said they either “strongly” or “somewhat” support the bill. On the flip side, around 3 in 10 said the opposite, with 17% unsure (YouGov).

FLAG FINDS

Fresh ‘Za, Lumber Ledge, Great Garlic

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WATERCOOLER

Big Hole River, Canned Luxury, Delhi Brother is Watching

On August 9, 1877, having refused government demands that they move to a reservation, a small band of Nez Perce tribesmen clash with the US Army near the Big Hole River in Montana. Above is the sight of the battle, which is currently managed by the National Park Service.

Life Hacker: How to Make Canned Vegetables Taste Luxurious

Quanta Magazine: The Neuroscience Behind Bad Decisions

Bon Appétit: If You Have Eggs and Tomatoes, You Have Dinner

Today I Learned New Delhi, India is the most surveilled city in the world with 1,826.6 CCTV cameras per square mile