Joe Biden’s Climate and Health Plan Passes Senate Thanks to Kamala Harris

Stephanie Reynolds/AFP

Joe Biden’s Climate and Health Plan Passes Senate Thanks to Kamala Harris

The US Senate passed the ambitious plan this Sunday, August 7 Joe Biden On top of that Climate and health, giving the president a significant victory within 100 days of crucial elections.

With their votes alone, the Democrats approved This project More than $430 billion, it will return to the House of Representatives next week for a final vote before being signed into law by Joe Biden. 50 Democrats were in favor and 50 Republicans were against, so Kamala Harris, the vice president of the Senate, stepped in to break the tie.

“The road is long, hard and winding”, underscored by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, was greeted by thunderous applause in his camp just before the vote. It took 18 months of negotiations and a marathon night of discussions to get there.

“A lot of compromises had to be made. It is always necessary to do important things”In a statement, Joe Biden urged the House of Representatives to pass the speech without delay.

Electric cars

As a result of a compromise with the Democratic Party’s right wing, the envelope includes the largest climate investment the United States has ever made — $370 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.

With this reform, an American would receive up to $7,500 in tax credits for purchasing an electric car. Installation of solar panels on its roof will be 30%.

This reform should make it possible to strengthen forest resilience in the face of the wildfires that are ravaging the American West and whose proliferation is directly attributable to global warming.

Billions of dollars in tax breaks will be given to the most polluting industries to help them with their energy transition, a move strongly criticized by the party’s left. An ambitious deal after months of negotiations.

Joe Biden, who came to power with sweeping reform plans, saw them buried, resurrected, and then buried again by Joe Manchin, the most moderate senator from his camp. Given the slim Democratic majority in the Senate, West Virginia’s elected representative, a state known for its coal mines, has veto power over his plans.

In late July, the Senate Democratic leader finally succeeded in coaxing a compromise from Manchin.

“Vot-e-Rama”

On Saturday, senators finally began debating the text in hemicycle. In the evening, they entered the dubbed marathon practice “Ottu-a-Rama”Elected officials, many of them elderly, proposed dozens of amendments for fifteen consecutive hours and demanded a vote on each one.

A chance to air their grievances to the Republican opposition, who see the Biden plan as too expensive, and the Democratic left, who want it too ambitious. Bernie Sanders, an influential senator on the left, introduced several amendments overnight to strengthen the social aspect of the text, which has been significantly watered down in recent months.

The text offers $64 billion to invest in health and gradually reduce the cost of some drugs, which would be ten times more than in other rich countries.

But progressives had to abandon their ambitions of free public kindergartens and universities and better care for the elderly. “Millions of pensioners will have rotten teeth and won’t get the dentures, hearing aids or glasses they deserve.”Criticized Sanders from Hemicycle. “This bill does nothing to solve this problem.”The former presidential candidate promised.

But the Democratic camp, eager to implement the plan ahead of crucial November legislative elections and hand a victory to a president with anemic popularity ratings, united and rejected most of the amendments.

Alongside these massive investments, the bill wants to reduce the public deficit with a new minimum tax of 15% for all companies making over a billion dollars in profits. It aims to prevent some large companies from exploiting tax loopholes that have allowed them to pay much less than the theoretical rate. It is estimated that the move could generate more than $258 billion in US federal revenue over the next 10 years.