Democrats scramble to lock down legislation ahead of August recess

Judy Woodruff:

Turning back now to domestic politics, the question looming over Capitol Hill is whether a handshake deal will hold allowing Democrats to pass a 700-plus-billion-dollar chunk of the president's agenda.

Lisa Desjardins is here to break down all the latest developments, as lawmakers scrambled to complete their work ahead of the August recess.

Lisa, hello to you.

But, first, I do want to ask you about the really tragic news today that a member of Congress, Congresswoman Jackie Walorski of Indiana, was killed in a car accident, along with two of her staff members.

You have been talking to people on the Hill. Tell us what they're saying. And you knew her some?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right.

Judy Woodruff:

Tell us a little about her.

Lisa Desjardins:

It's a state of shock on Capitol Hill about this.

Congresswoman Walorski was a rising star. She was a standout member of the House Republican Conference. She was tough. She was intense on her issues, but she was also known as kind, someone whose word you could count on. She, in fact, when Liz Cheney was being shown the door out of leadership, she was many people's favorite choice, people who didn't like Elise Stefanik as much.

Also, personally, I can tell you, she always liked to talk about R.V. manufacturing, perhaps the greatest advocate in history, because that is a big, important industry in her district.

Also shocking to lose two young staffers like this.

Judy Woodruff:

For sure.

Lisa Desjardins:

So, a very big loss for the Capitol. And our sympathies to everyone, of course.

Judy Woodruff:

Absolutely. Such a tragedy.

So, the agenda before Congress, only days to go before they're trying to get out for the for the August recess, the Senate.

Lisa, we are talking about, what, a half-a-trillion-dollar deal in the balance.

Lisa Desjardins:

Yes. Yes.

Judy Woodruff:

What is the holdup? What's going on?

Lisa Desjardins:

OK, a quick reminder of what's in this exactly.

So, one big portion of it, about $370 billion, is for climate change aspects. They also would address drug prices, including Medicare being able to negotiate or extend some subsidies. And, overall, it also would reduce the deficit, depending on how you count — and we will probably talk about this another day — between $100 billion and $300 billion, a so a very big deal.

Now, why do we even have this deal? Of course, Senator Joe Manchin. And you can show a picture of him. And you can see he's the key vote that brought this deal together. Why is it held up? Another key senator, Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

She has not yet gotten on board this deal. And they are really at odds over an important aspect of this bill. I want to show some footage from the Senate floor yesterday. If you look up there at the very top, where the Senate president sits, there, you see Kyrsten Sinema. She was chairing the proceeding. There's Senator Joe Manchin. They had a long talk yesterday, did not resolve the differences.

Now, another issue, Judy, on timing is, the parliamentarian must also OK that everything in this bill fits muster for this budget process. All in all, Judy, I think the timing on this might get pushed back. But I still expect at least some action this weekend.

Judy Woodruff:

So interesting about Sinema and Manchin. They're so often together. This time, we don't know.

Lisa Desjardins:

Right.

Judy Woodruff:

We don't know what will happen.

So, this snag right now it's called carried interest. It has been around as an issue for a long time. Explain it to us.

Lisa Desjardins:

Again, we may come back to this in more depth another day.

But, quickly, what carried interest is, it's a tax provision that has a lower tax rate, especially for the fund managers of things like hedge funds. They pay 20 percent tax rate. Senator Joe Manchin wants to end that. He looks at that as a loophole. Senator Kyrsten Sinema completely disagrees. She feels just as strongly that this should remain in the code. And they are fighting that out right now as we speak.

Still no deal between them yet.

Judy Woodruff:

Meantime, the Senate is getting something done. We have been reporting on it, this measure having to do with veterans.

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right, and an amazing, amazing kind of a huge bill that passed yesterday.

And I just want to play some sound after that happened, which was just after our airtime.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY):

Today, finally, at long last, America lived up to its ideals by saying to our veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals from burn pits, we have your back finally.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS):

Congratulations. Thanks to the United States Senate for demonstrating, when there's something good and a good cause, this place still works.

Lisa Desjardins:

Bipartisan. That was a Republican and a Democrat talking about it.

Also, another bipartisan vote just happened on NATO, NATO expansion. So there are some things happening in the Senate. As for that PACT Act for veterans, the president plans to sign it on Monday. It will go into law and take effect and just parts of it will take effect in September and October.

Judy Woodruff:

And just a few days ago, it was hanging in the balance. We didn't know what was going to happen.

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right.

Judy Woodruff:

Lisa Desjardins, thanks very much.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.