(CNN)The Senate passed a sweeping Democratic health and climate bill Sunday afternoon and sent it to the House. An important win for President Joe Biden and his party.
Raised more than $700 billion in government revenue over a 10-year period, spent more than $430 billion to reduce carbon emissions, and increased health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and use the remaining new revenue to reduce the deficit.
The package is the product of painstaking negotiations, and its passage will give Democrats a chance to achieve key policy goals ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is set to pass the bill on Friday, Aug. 12, and must approve it before Biden signs it.
Democrats in the Senate, with a majority of just 50 seats, maintained their unity to pass the bill, using a special process to approve the bill without a Republican vote. The final passage came after a series of controversial revision votes known as the "rama votes" that lasted from late Saturday night through Sunday afternoon.
How Senate Democrats Passed Bills with Intraparty Vote
They had hoped to pass the package, but struggled for months to reach a deal that had the full support of their caucuses. - The bill moved forward after West Virginia Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the deal at the end of July. Earlier negotiations stalled.
Arizona Senator Kirsten Cinema showed critical support Thursday night after party leaders agreed to changes to new tax plans, saying she's "moving forward" on a sweeping economic package.
But Cinema, Manchin and other senators made important changes to the bill over the weekend.
Democrats hatched a plan to persuade cinema to avoid a last-minute collapse of the bill on Sunday. Cinema was concerned about the impact of a 15% minimum corporate tax on private equity-owned subsidiaries. Extends the limit on the amount of losses that businesses can deduct in exchange for paying for it through changes in deaf state and local tax credits...for another two years.
Republicans used the weekend "rama vote" to put Democrats on the floor and force a tough political vote. They also successfully removed a key insulin provision to limit the price of insulin in the private insurance market to $35 a month, which senators ruled was not compliant with the Senate's settlement rule. His $35 insulin cap for Medicare recipients remains in place.
How the Bill Addresses the Climate Crisis
The nearly $370 billion clean energy and climate package is the largest climate investment in US history and the biggest triumph of the environmental movement since the groundbreaking Clean Air Act. It also comes at a critical time. This summer has seen intense heat waves and deadly floods across the country. Scientists say both of these are linked to global warming.
Analysis by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office and multiple independent analyzes show that the measure could reduce US carbon emissions by up to 40% by 2030. Suggested. Strong climate regulation by the Biden administration and President Joe Biden's goal of reducing emissions by 50% of his by 2030 will require an entire state.
The bill includes a number of tax measures designed to lower the cost of electricity with more renewable energy and encourage more American consumers to switch to electric power in their homes and cars. It also includes above incentives.
Lawmakers said the bill was a monumental victory and just the beginning of what is needed to fight the climate crisis. It's not about the laws, it's about the laws of physics," Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii told CNN. "We all knew going into this effort that we had to do what science told us what we needed to do."
Key Health Care and Tax Policies of the Bill
This bill would allow Medicare to negotiate the price of certain expensive drugs administered at clinics or purchased at pharmacies. It gives you the authority to do so. The Secretary of Health and Human Services said that in 2026 he will negotiate prices for 10 drugs, and in 2027 and he will negotiate prices for 15 more in 2028. After 2029, that number will increase to 20 per year.
This controversial provision is much more restrictive than what House Democratic leaders have supported in the past.
Democrats will also open the door to 2025, a year later than lawmakers recently discussed. Plans to extend enhanced federal premium subsidies for Obamacare coverage. That way it won't expire right after the 2024 presidential election.
To boost revenue, the bill would impose his 15% minimum tax on income known as book income that large corporations report to shareholders, as opposed to the Internal Revenue Service. Become. The bill, which will raise $258 billion over 10 years, applies to companies whose profits exceed his $1 billion.
Cinema, concerned about how this provision will affect certain businesses, particularly manufacturers, has expressed interest in the Democratic Party's plan to cut back on how businesses deduct depreciable assets from taxes. Suggested that the change was won. Details remain unknown.
But cinema tightens the carried interest loophole that allows investment managers to treat much of their compensation as capital gains and pay a 20% long-term capital gains tax rate instead of the income tax rate. up to 37% stopped the party's efforts.
This provision would extend from three to five years the period during which he must retain an interest in the investment manager's profits in order to take advantage of the lower tax rate. Addressing this loophole that could raise her $14 billion in 10 years has been a long-standing goal of Congressional Democrats.
In exchange, her 1% excise tax on corporate stock buybacks was added, raising another $74 billion, according to a Democratic aide.
This article and headline have been updated with additional developments.