The US Senate has approved a bill that members of the Democratic Party of President Joe Biden say will bring about major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the cost of drugs for the elderly and make corporations and wealthy individuals pay more in taxes.
–
Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to drop 40 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. The federal government will support the effort with roughly $400 billion over ten years — all to support electric mobility and the shift to renewables.
–
After months of political back-and-forth, it seemed that the Biden administration would not achieve much success, but in recent days the ice has moved. The divided Democrats in the Senate managed to convince the senator for West Virginia, Joe Manchin – because coal is mined on a large scale in his state, and the reduction of mining would be fundamentally reflected here. The rebellious senator won a series of concessions and finally agreed.
–
The approved standards will further reduce the cost of prescription drugs, allowing the government’s national Medicare program to negotiate drug prices for the first time. Each American would then pay a maximum of two thousand dollars a year for the drugs. The measure would also extend larger health insurance subsidies for low- and moderate-income people for three years under the Affordable Care Act.
–
Passage of the legislation would also mean a tax increase mostly on large corporations. The minimum corporate tax would be 15 percent, and there would also be a new tax on company share buybacks. According to the Democrats, the state budget should receive about 700 billion dollars from them.
–
Not a single Republican representative raised his hand. The Senate approved the bill 51 to 50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote.
–
Now the package of measures heads to the House of Representatives, where Biden’s party has a majority, the package of laws is expected to pass next week and then be signed by the president.
–
“The House should pass the Climate Change, Taxes and Cures bill as soon as possible, and I look forward to signing it,” Biden said in a statement issued after the vote.
–
If the process does not stall, the US is on the verge of a major climate change and may become a leader in the campaign against climate change.
–
The legislation builds on Democrats’ ambitious Build Back Better plan, which they backed away from in recent months. To comply with the demands of Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinem of Arizona, they dropped a plan to invest billions of dollars in child care and public education.
–
They reduced the proposal and renamed it the Inflation Reduction Act. The proposal is expected to reduce the deficit by as much as $300 billion over ten years.
–
In recent weeks, Democrats have also managed to push through legislation on industry, which aims to use $280 billion to strengthen America’s competitiveness against China. The Democrats’ proposal for the largest expansion of veterans’ benefits in more than two decades was also approved.
–
However, there are congressional elections in November, in which things are not looking good for the Democrats – at least for now. They could lose their majority in the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. So the current success for Biden came almost at the last moment.
—
