(CNN) The House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the Democrats’ $750 billion health, energy and climate protection, in a significant victory for President Joe Biden and his party.
The final vote was 220-207, along party lines. Four Republicans did not vote.
Now that the Democratic-controlled House has approved the bill, it will next go to Biden to be signed into law.
The passage of this bill marks an important milestone for Democrats and gives the party an opportunity to achieve long-sought goals in the upcoming midterm elections. It comes at a critical time as Democrats are fighting to retain majority control in Congress.
The bill — called the Inflation Reduction Act — would represent the largest climate change in US history and make major changes to health care law by giving Medicare the power for the first time to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs and increase dwindling health care. grant for three years. The legislation would reduce the deficit, be paid for through new taxes — including a 15 percent tax on large corporations and a 1 percent tax on stock purchases — and increase the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to collect.
It could raise more than $700 billion in federal funding over 10 years and use more than $430 billion to reduce carbon emissions and increase health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and use the remaining new funds to reduce the deficit.
The House rules after Senate Democrats passed the bill
House acts after Senate Democrats passed the bill
The Supreme Court took up the bill after it passed the Senate following a marathon overnight session of votes to settle the dispute. This may interest you : Science coverage of climate change could change minds – briefly.
In the Senate, the bill passed on a final, party-line vote of 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.
Senate Democrats, who only control a minority of 50 seats, eventually came together to pass the law. And they used a special, filibuster-proof process known as reconciliation to approve the measure without Republican votes.
The passage of the bill in the chamber marked a major milestone for Senate Democrats, who had been hoping to pass a signature bill, but struggled for months to reach a deal that had the full support of their caucus.
Senator Joe Manchin played a key role in crafting the legislation — which continued after the West Virginia Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the deal in late July, a major breakthrough for Democrats after negotiations stalled.
Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was also at the center of efforts to pass the bill — and Sinema, Manchin and other senators worked through the weekend to make changes to the bill.
The entry into the Senate came after a long period of amendment votes known as “vote-a-rama” which lasted about 16 hours from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon.
Republicans used the weekend “vote-a-rama” to put Democrats on the spot and force tough political votes. They also succeeded in eliminating the important plan to cover the cost of insulin up to $35 per month in the private insurance market, which the Senate of the parliament ruled was not compatible with the reconciliation rules of the Senate. The $35 insulin cap for Medicare beneficiaries remains in place.
Ultimately, Republicans stopped opposing the bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that the bill includes “a giant killer tax hike” and equal “war on American oil.” The Kentucky Republican said Democrats “are not about starting middle-class families.”
How does the bill address the climate crisis?
How the bill addresses the climate crisis
While economists debate whether this package will live up to its name and reduce inflation, especially in the short term, the bill will have to do with reducing carbon emissions. On the same subject : The Politics of Nightmare and the Sticky Science of Hacking the Climate.
The nearly $370 billion clean energy and climate deal is the largest climate investment in US history, and the biggest victory for the environmental movement since the passage of the Clean Air Act.
Analysis from Schumer’s office — as well as several independent studies — show that the measure would reduce US carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. Stronger climate policies from the Biden administration and measures from the states would be needed to reach Biden’s goal. cut emissions 50% by 2030.
The bill also contains several tax incentives to lower the cost of renewable energy sources, and encourage American consumers to switch to electricity to power their homes and cars.
The importance of health care and tax legislation in the bill
Key health care and tax policy in the bill
The bill would give Medicare the power to negotiate the prices of certain expensive drugs that are prescribed in doctors’ offices or bought at a pharmacy. The Secretary of Health and Human Services would negotiate prices for 10 drugs in 2026, and another 15 drugs in 2027 and again in 2028. Read also : Shelby Statement on Democratic Reconciliation Legislation – Press Releases – United States Senator Richard Shelby. The number would rise to 20 drugs a year for 2029 and beyond.
The debate is a more limited arrangement than House Democratic leaders have supported in the past. But it would open the door to achieving the party’s longtime goal of allowing Medicare to use its heft to lower drug costs.
Democrats are also planning to extend federal funding for Obamacare through 2025, a year later than lawmakers have proposed. That way, they would not expire after the 2024 presidential election.
To increase revenue, the bill would impose a 15% lower tax rate on corporate income tax paid to shareholders, known as book income, unlike the Internal Revenue Service. This measure, which would raise 250 billion dollars in 10 years, would apply to companies with a profit of more than 1 billion dollars.
Concerned about the way some businesses, especially manufacturers, were being treated, Sinema said he won changes to the Democrats’ plan to restore how companies can deduct low-cost items from their taxes. The details remain unclear.
However, Sinema has rejected his party’s attempt to freeze carried interest, which would allow investment managers to treat more of their compensation as income and pay 20% long-term capital gains tax instead of the 37% income tax rate.
The provision would have increased the amount of time investment profit managers must hold from three years to five years to take advantage of the lower tax rate. Fixing this loophole, which would have raised $14 billion over 10 years, has been a longtime goal of Congressional Democrats.
In its place, a 1% tax on companies’ stock buybacks was added, raising another $74 billion, according to a Democratic aide.
CNN’s Alex Rogers, Ella Nilsen, Tami Luhby, Katie Lobosco and Matt Egan contributed to this report.
