WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats narrowly passed a sweeping package on climate and the economy on Sunday, just three months before the pivotal midterm elections in November with President Joe Biden. His party ended up winning big in Congress.
After an all-night Senate vote, the 51-50 vote was strictly on party line, with all Republicans voting against and all Democrats voting in favor. was. Vice President Kamala Harris had a tie vote.
A bill called the Curb Inflation Act is now heading to the House of Representatives, who is expected to return from the summer recess on Friday, to pass the bill and send it to Biden's desk for signature.
"It's been a long, hard and winding road, but we're finally here. I know it's been a long day and a long night. But today we made it." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor before the final vote.
“After more than a year of hard work, the Senate is making history.
The 755-page bill includes $430 billion to fight climate change and expand health insurance, funded by prescription drug savings and corporate taxes. increase. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being invested in deficit reduction.
- Most of the spending (over $300 billion) is investment to tackle climate change and promote clean energy. Extension of Electric Vehicle Tax Credit. Launch of the National Climate Bank to invest in clean energy technologies and energy efficiency.
- This law will allow Medicare to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies for the first time, lowering the price of prescription drugs for the elderly. The savings will help extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies for another three years and help offset an expected increase in premiums that was due to take effect in 2023.
- The package capped the price of insulin for seniors in Medicare, but the Republicans succeeded in removing the $35 cap on insulin in the private market.
- The bill also raises revenue by imposing a new 15% minimum tax on large corporations, but exempts them from accelerated depreciation - centrist Senator Kirsten Cinema (D-Arizona)
- Before joining the package, which was a key request of the company and elicited several tax changes from its leaders,
- Sinema also announced a carry-eater that would benefit private equity and hedge fund managers. Successfully nullified provisions to close tax loopholes. This was replaced by his 1% excise tax on share buybacks, with the support of Sinema. This actually yields more return than the accrued interest provision.
The bill was quickly drawn up. In less than two weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. announcedsurprise contractsfor some of the this year.
Democrats are just the latest example of an extraordinary streak of legislative victories in a typically partisan stalemate, the sprawling package. I believe. Last year saw a $1 trillion infrastructure package, the most important gun reform bill of a generation, a major semiconductor and science competitiveness package, a bill to help veterans exposed to burnt fields, and Finland and Sweden in a showdown. voted to join NATO. with Russia.
"Mitch McConnell and the Republicans have backed Big Oil and backed Big Pharma to protect their interests, and for years we've been trying to cut costs. I've been doing it," Senator Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democratic Party, chairman of the Chief Democratic Policy Committee, told NBC News.
"This is the big moment these forces are here," she said.
Sen. Cory Booker (D, N.J.), a progressive and former presidential candidate in his 2020 presidential campaign, who was Biden's 2020 presidential rival, also voted for Congress. You mentioned recent progress.
"I don't know if there has ever been a more productive Congress or president than this one," he said in an interview. "This president continues to introduce historic legislation that responds to the urgency of the American people."
State) said the settlement package would make his job easier as he seeks to protect incumbents and grow the party's vulnerable majority.
"Lower drug prices, lower health insurance premiums for millions of Americans, and tackling climate change will greatly motivate our base, especially young voters," Peters said. Told.
There was little the Republicans could do to stop the massive spending package. Democrats could not filibuster because they use a special budget adjustment process that allows them to pass bills with a simple majority without requiring the support of a single Republican.
But Republicans have found a way to make things painful. During "Vote Rama," a process in which senators can submit virtually unlimited amendments, Republicans spent late Saturday night through Sunday morning following tough votes on politically difficult issues before leaving vulnerable voters. It forced Democrats to vote hard.
Senator John Barrasso (Wyoming, Republican) proposed an amendment to lower gas prices by increasing domestic energy production, while Senator James Lankford (Oklahoma, Republican) ) proposed an amendment to provide additional funding for implementation. On Title 42, the controversial public health rule that blocked asylum seekers from crossing the border. But the Democrats remained united and defeated nearly every Republican amendment.
Republicans argue in floor speeches and hallway interviews that the bill's name is misleading and will do little to bring down record inflation under Biden. did.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it "another round of reckless tax and spending." And minority Republican leader John Thune called it "a hodgepodge of bad ideas for the Democratic Party." Others said a multi-hundred-billion-dollar tax hike on businesses would push the country into recession.
The worst thing you can do in the early stages is to slow the economy even further…New taxes will do just that. If they want to celebrate the bill, I think their celebration is misplaced," said Sen. Cynthia Ramis, Wyoming Republican. , she added that she was "disappointed" that moderate Democrat colleagues attended, while acknowledging that Americans struggled with high prices for gas, groceries and travel. There was also criticism from the Democratic caucuses. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a progressive icon with a caucus with the Democratic Party, ripped up the package for not doing enough. Unlike Biden's original Build Back Better Package, the slimmed-down inflation bill had no child tax credit, universal kindergartens, free community colleges, or expanded Medicare.
"No one can deny that this law does not address a major crisis facing working families," Sanders told reporters. “This bill says nothing about the housing crisis, the childcare crisis, the higher education crisis, the crisis for millions of Americans. No."