On Saturday, Senators hit the Democratic Party's drug price restraint plan, but most of the rest of the vast economic bill was left as the leader prepared for the first vote on the package. It remained intact. It contains many of President Joe Biden's top domestic goals.
Chamber of Commerce nonpartisan rule mediator Elizabeth McDonough said lawmakers must remove the wording that imposes heavy penalties on pharmaceutical companies that push prices beyond inflation in the private insurance market. He said he had to. These were the main price protections for the bill of about 180 million people whose health insurance came from work or from private insurance purchased by themselves.
Other key provisions remain intact, including the Democratic Party's long-standing goal of empowering Medicare to negotiate the amount of medicines to pay to 64 million elderly recipients. rice field. Manufacturer penalties for exceeding inflation apply to medicines sold to Medicare, with a $ 2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on drug costs and free vaccines for Medicare beneficiaries.
Democrats will start voting in the Senate on Saturday with a wide range of packages to address climate change, energy, health care costs, taxes and even deficit reduction So her decision was made. .. The leader said he believes that all Republicans are expected to oppose the bill, and that Vice President Kamala Harris has voted in favor and believes that there is the unity needed to advance the bill in the 50-50 Senate. rice field.
"This is a big victory for the American people," said Senate leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Said the bill that both parties are using to assign accusations in the campaign for the election year. Worst inflation period in 40 years.
"When in a seemingly mysterious predicament, the Inflation Reduction Act says that when the moment demands it, Congress still takes a big step to solve a big problem. Will show the American people what they can do, "Schumer said. .. "Yes, we show Americans that we can pass the historic climate change package, curb pharmaceutical companies, and make tax law fairer."
In response. And the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "We misunderstand American anger as yet another reckless tax and spending obligation," Democrats said. He said Democrats "have already robbed American families of inflation, and now their solution is to rob American families again."
Eliminating penalties for pharmaceutical companies reduces the incentives that pharmaceutical companies charge to limit and increases patient costs.
To put it bluntly, analysts say the 10-year savings estimated by Democratic overall drug regulation would save $ 288 billion, perhaps tens of billions of dollars. I am.
Schumaer said McDonough's decision on the price limit for private insurance was "one unfortunate ruling." But he said the wording of the surviving drug prices was "a big victory for the American people" and the entire bill "remains almost intact." The
ruling continued for ten days when Democrats revived the top elements of Biden's agenda, which appeared to be dead. With a quick deal with two of the Democratic senators, first the conservative Joe Manchin in West Virginia, and then the Arizona centrist, Kyrsten Sinema, Schumer put together a wide range of packages. rice field. The party's achievements against the backdrop of this fall's parliamentary elections.
Parliamentarians also approved charges for over-emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas contributor from oil and gas drilling. She also supported environmental grants to the minority community and other initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, said D-Del, chairman of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Commission, Thomas Carper.
She has a clause that requires union-sized wages to be paid if an energy efficiency project is tax deductible, and a tax credit for electric vehicles on cars and trucks assembled in the United States. Approved the restrictive clause.
Overall measures face unanimous Republican opposition. But assuming the Democrats fight a non-stop "llama vote" on the amendment (many of which Republicans designed to upset the bill), they should be able to strengthen the bill through the Senate.
The House of Representatives will return on Friday to vote on the bill.
"What's going on with voting for llamas? It's going to be hell," said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a top Republican member of the Senate Budget Committee, on Friday. I mentioned the GOP approaching. Fixed. In supporting the Democratic bill, Manchin and Cinema "make the average person's life more difficult" by pushing up energy costs through tax increases and making it harder for businesses to hire workers. We are strengthening the law. "
The bill provides spending and tax incentives to move to cleaner fuels, help reduce carbon emissions and support coal. Expired subsidies that help millions of people pay private premiums have been extended for three years, with $ 4 billion to help western states fight the drought.
Some businesses that earn more than $ 1 billion a year but pay far less than the current 21% corporate tax will be subject to a new 15% minimum tax. In addition, a 1% tax will be levied on companies repurchasing their shares after Cinema refuses to support tax increases for private equity firm executives and hedge fund managers. The IRS budget will be raised to strengthen tax collection.
The final cost of the bill has not yet been determined, but it will spend more than $ 300 billion over a total of over $ 300 billion to delay climate change. Analysts say it is the country's largest investment in this initiative, with additional billions of dollars in health investment. Care. It raises over $ 700 billion in taxes and leaves about $ 300 billion to reduce deficits from government drug cost savings. This is a small bite from the projected trillions of dollars shortage of the decade.
Democrats use special procedures to pass the bill without having to reach the majority of the 60 votes that the bill often requires in the Senate.
It is the job of parliamentarians to decide whether a part of the law needs to be removed because they violated these rules. This includes provisions primarily aimed at affecting the federal budget, rather than imposing new policies.
- In:
- US Congress
- Climate Change
- Economy
- Environment
- Gas Price
- Inflation
- Tax Refund
- Healthcare
Thank you for reading CBS News.
Create a free account or log in to
to take advantage of other features.
