A comprehensive economic package worth $700 billion that includes significant measures on healthcare, taxes and climate change has been approved by the US Senate. The law aims to raise corporate taxes, cut carbon emissions, and slash the cost of some medications.
The passage of the law, a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s plan, is encouraging before the mid-term elections. However, it is a much-reduced version of the $3.5 trillion program that his administration had suggested.
The bill, the result of 18 months of protracted negotiations, was approved on Sunday with a vote of 51 to 50 on both sides; Vice President Kamala Harris cast the decision. Two Democratic senators who shared Republican concerns about the expense had previously rejected it. The bill will now be sent to the Democratic-controlled House, where it is anticipated to approve in a vote on Friday before the president can sign it into law.
The Inflation Reduction Act contains provisions that enable the government to negotiate lower costs for prescription drugs covered by the Medicare health insurance program for people over 65. According to predictions from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, that will save hundreds of billions of dollars over the following ten years.
Additionally, the package imposes a minimum 15% tax on businesses with annual profits over $1 billion. Business organizations are opposed to that law, which is a point of dispute during congressional deliberations because they claim it will restrict investment.
The law also includes $369 billion for climate action, the largest expenditure in this area in US history.
Tax credits of up to $7,500 or $4,000 for secondhand cars could be available to some households. Additionally, billions will be spent to hasten the manufacturing of renewable technologies like solar and wind power. Additionally, $60 billion will be distributed to areas that have been most adversely affected by pollution from fossil fuels.
According to the bill’s sponsors, it will reduce the nation’s carbon emissions by 40% by 2030.
The climate change bill comes as the US endures extreme weather, such as a recent heatwave and deadly flooding in Kentucky that left scores dead. On Monday, Vice President Biden traveled to a state where flooding had caused damage.
Various variables cause flooding, but climate change’s warming of the atmosphere increases the likelihood of excessive precipitation.
Since the beginning of the industrial age, the planet has already warmed by around 1.1C, and temperatures will continue rising unless governments all over the world drastically reduce emissions.
The plan, which is the outcome of a year’s worth of laborious effort, is for Americans who no longer have faith in Congress, according to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Republicans have vowed to make an effort to slow down or stop the bill’s advancement.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican, stated that it was out of date since it did not contribute to lowering prices for working people or keeping criminals behind bars, “the things working people in this nation worry about.”
Read Also: enate approves $40 billion aid to Ukraine
Congress discussed a revised version of the bill on Saturday after compromises on the previous, more ambitious proposal were reached with two important Democratic holdouts, Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Mr. Manchin had feared that the original package would have accelerated inflation.
President Biden promised to bring the US back to the forefront of global climate action, calling the bill “historic.” He committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 in April of last year.
Last month, he announced $2.2 billion to assist in developing infrastructure that can resist severe weather and natural calamities.
The US is actively involved in the fight against climate change
This isn’t the all-singing, all-dancing climate mega-bill Joe Biden promised when he ran for president, but if it succeeds, it will be the most aggressive step the US has made to attempt to stop the globe from warming.
Additionally, the indirect effect can have even greater significance.
John Kerry, the climate envoy for President Biden, has worked nonstop to get other nations to increase their climate change goals.
But the US had a credibility problem.
One Democrat senator said, “You can’t teach temperance on a bar stool.”
He’s saying that you can’t ask China, India, or Brazil to reduce emissions unless you’re also doing it for yourselves.
That’s still a hefty ask, and relations with China right now are very tense. For instance, Beijing declared it would no longer cooperate on climate change after top Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan.
However, it is hoped that international efforts to combat global warming will be revived, with the US setting an example.
