Shifting Roadblocks 

Senator Manchin says he favors higher taxes to fight the national debt and inflation. Seemingly, Democrats should be thrilled at this turn of events. 

However, Senator Krysten Sinema of Arizona Is Now the Roadblock.

Democrats hoping to resurrect the party's economic agenda are facing a problem: Sen. Joe Manchin's goal for raising tax rates clashes with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's opposition to doing so.

Mr. Manchin has pointed to raising the corporate tax rate to 25% from 21%, raising the top capital-gains rate to 28% from 23.8% and increasing taxes on private-equity managers' carried-interest income.

But Democrats abandoned those tax proposals last year because of opposition from Ms. Sinema (D., Ariz.). 

Other Democrats broadly support the tax increases that Mr. Manchin is again advocating, but dropping the proposals became one of many concessions the party made to Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin over months of talks last year. The compromise surprised many in the party.

"The end result does include the lowest common denominator the party agrees on, which is higher taxes on the very, very rich and also on corporations, but gets to that in a manner that no one left to their own devices would have devised," Jason Furman, who was a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said of the House bill.