Senate nears passage of climate and health bill in marathon night session

Washington — Democrats Lead Election Year .

The debate began on Saturday, and by sunrise on Sunday, Democrats had smashed 12 Republican efforts to block legislation with no clear end in sight. Despite unanimous Republican opposition, Democrats' solidarity in Congress, 50-50, bolstered by Vice President Kamala Harris's tie-breaking vote, is three points out of an election in which congressional control is at stake. A month later, it suggested the party was on track to a morale-boosting victory.

"It keeps inflation down. It lowers the cost of prescription drugs. It fights climate change." "It will help close tax loopholes and reduce the deficit," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said of the package.

Republicans said the move would undermine an economy where policy makers struggled to keep it from plummeting into recession. They said the bill's business tax would stifle job creation, send prices skyrocketing and make it harder for people to cope with the worst inflation since the 1980s.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky said, "The Democrats have already robbed American homes with inflation, and now their solution is to rob American homes again." He said the bill's spending and tax hikes would kill jobs while having little impact on inflation and climate change.

Bipartisan analysts say the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act will have little impact on the surge in consumer prices. The bill would be just under a tenth of the size of Biden's $3.5 trillion progressive ambition rainbow in his first decade, and it would be a universal preschool, paid It abandons proposals such as family leave and expanded childcare assistance.

Still, this new bill will give Democrats a showcase for a campaign season to show action on coveted goals. It includes the largest federal commitment to climate change ever (nearly $400 billion), empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and providing health insurance for 13 million people. Extend the validity period of subsidies to

Biden's original bill cost West Virginia conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin Too much fuel inflation.

In the test of all such budget bills, the Senate plunged into hours-long "llama votes" on rapid amendments. Each tested the Democrats' ability to work out a compromise negotiated by Schumer, Progressive Manchin, and enigmatic centrist Arizona Democratic Senator Kirsten Cinema.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont proposed an amendment to further expand the health benefits of the law, but the effort failed. But most of the proposed changes were made to help Republicans figure out bills or force Democrats to vote in dangerous political situations.

If the Republican proposal is one of his, the Biden administration will be forced to continue pandemic-cited Trump-era restrictions to reduce the flow of immigrants across the Southwest border. would have been

Earlier this year, Democrats facing a tough re-election backed such an extension, and once Republicans linked her two issues, the party stopped pushing for her COVID-19 spending. I had to. This time, with much greater economic legislation at stake and elections looming, Democrats rallied against border controls.

Other Republican amendments required more gas and oil leases on federal land and blocked renewal of oil tariffs to fund cleanup of toxic waste. . All were rejected in internal ballots. Republicans accused Democrats of complacency in border security and opening the door to rising energy and gas costs.

The bill's prescription drug price controls were diluted by a bipartisan member of the Senate before the debate began on Saturday. Elisabeth McDonough, refereeing questions on the Chamber's proceedings, said the clause that imposes hefty fines on pharmaceutical companies whose price increases at private insurers outweigh inflation should be abolished.

This was the primary protection for her 180 million people with private health insurance, either obtained through work or purchased for themselves. Under a special procedure that allows Democrats to pass bills with a simple majority without the usual margin of 60 votes, that provision should focus more on budget figures in dollars and cents than on policy changes. 128}

However, the pharmaceutical company's pricing claims remained. This includes negotiating how much Medicare pays its 64 million elderly beneficiaries for medicines, imposing penalties on manufacturers who exceed inflation on drugs sold to Medicare, It included a cap of $2,000 annually.

The bill also limits a patient's cost of insulin, an expensive diabetes drug, to $35 a month.

The final cost of this measure had been recalculated to reflect recent changes, but overall he would have raised more than $700 billion over 10 years. . The funds will impose a 15% minimum tax on a small number of companies with more than $1 billion in annual profits, a 1% tax on companies that buy back their own shares, strengthen IRS tax collection, and help the government reduce drug costs. can be obtained by reducing and saving tax.

Cinema forced Democrats to drop plans to prevent wealthy hedge fund managers from paying incomes below their personal income tax rate. She also worked with other Western senators to help combat drought in the region, earning her $4 billion.

Where the compromise between the progressives and Manchin, champion of the fossil fuel and coal industries in his state, was most evident was on the energy and environmental aspects.

Clean energy is promoted through tax credits for the purchase of electric vehicles and the manufacture of solar panels and wind turbines. Funds will be provided for home energy rebates, to build factories that build clean energy technologies, and to promote climate-friendly farming practices and reduce pollution in minority communities.

Manchin wins billions to help power plants cut carbon emissions, calls for more government auctions for oil drilling on federal land and waters stated that it will Party leaders have also pledged to push for another law this fall to accelerate the approval of energy projects. Manchin wants his state to include a nearly completed natural gas pipeline.

In:
• US Congress
• Economy
• Kamala Harris
• Inflation