Joe Manchin cuts the IRS enforcement funding out of the reconciliation bill and then bitches about pay fors? Come on, Joe.
September 9, 2021

Stephane Ruhle played devil's advocate with Katie Porter. But Katie was ready.

"You think Joe Manchin is not the only one not down with 3.5 trillion, you're wrong. There are more centrist Democrats letting Joe be the human shield, but they're not going to vote for 3.5 trillion," said Ruhle Thursday morning. Ruhle also mentioned the child care portion of the reconciliation bill, so Katie Porter started with that.

Katie noted that if men were primary caretakers of children in our society, "we would have done something about child care 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago when other countries did it. So I am not today all of a sudden convinced we have the will to deal with child care when we put off the issue decade after decade after decade. People tweet, women's pay day, women are falling behind, glass ceiling. Guess what, child care is the solution."

Then Representative Porter turned to the cost of the reconciliation bill, which, remember, is over TEN YEARS. If we make corporations pay their fair share in taxes, we'll increase revenue, period. And Katie Porter didn't hold back on directing her comments specifically to the Senator from West Virginia:

"Right there, Senator Manchin, anyone that's worried about spending, we can generate revenue so it isn't about 3.5 trillion in spending. We will generate revenue to pay for things. I have the will to do it. The question is, does Senator Manchin? Or is he more concerned about corporate donors, including the oil and gas industry, big pharmaceutical industry and others getting away with paying nothing under the current tax system," said Porter.

So Stephanie Ruhle flipped the script and started playing devil's advocate for the other side: "Shouldn't tax enforcement put more money into the IRS to enforce the existing tax laws, wouldn't that be a great part of the budget?"

Again, Porter took no prisoners: "Heck yes, Stephanie! But look who took that out? The very same people who are complaining we can't afford to make investments in regular American families are the same ones trying to shield the tax cheats of the country. So they can't have it both ways."

And she turned back to that "human shield," Joe Manchin:

KATIE PORTER: I would like to see Senator Joe Manchin come out in favor of fully funding the IRS, in favor of having a fair global corporate tax system. Once we raise that revenue, I am willing to talk to him about what we need to do to create a budget bill that meets his goal and definition of being fiscally responsible. I think it is dead on. It's fiscally irresponsible for Senator Manchin to refuse to raise revenue, and at the same time out of the other side of his mouth that he uses to talk to corporate donors complain we can't pay for things that American families desperately need.

They ended the interview with a short conversation about the California recall. Katie Porter is from California.

PORTER: He [Newsom] is not going to be recalled. We have one of the lowest covid rates and one of the fastest-growing economies. I live in California, raising my family here. Things in California are going well. The recall is part of our California process, it is going to be an election. I have already mailed in my ballot voting no, making sure we continue to have governor Newsom's leadership. Millions of Californians joined me. I can't wait for this to be over September 14th so we can move forward as a state.

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