Washington 13th August : Democrat lawmakers in the US House has passed a massive health care carbon, tax and climate change bill. The vote of Friday was 220-207 with the majority of Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans opposed, according to the DPA news agency.
With midterm elections fast approaching and Congress Democrats have scored a number of legislative wins in the past few weeks.These include including expanding NATO and getting health insurance and benefits for veterans who have been exposed to burn pits that are toxic, putting more than $53 billion in the US semiconductor industry, and enacting an bipartisan gun safety law.
The momentum has culminated in the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, an offshoot of the numerous variants of the president’s unsuccessful Build Back Better Act.
The IRA that the Senate moved to approve on Sunday with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie and now is headed to Biden’s desk to sign.
With Biden expected to sign the bill in the next few days, House Democrats say their current focus should be on the benefits it offers to Americans.
They readily admit that they didn’t adequately communicate to the American people about how the previous massive legislation passed by this Congress could improve their lives, such as the $1 trillion infrastructure plan.
Rep.Ro Khanna stated that Democrats require the “all-hands-on-deck method” that goes past the media and beltway and directly into the communities.
40 percent of Americans know with the Inflation Reduction Act, according to an Reuters/Ipsos poll that was released this week.
More than quarter of respondents stated that they’d had no knowledge of the law, whereas more than a third said they had heard of it, but didn’t know more about it.
The bill will permit Medicare to negotiate certain prescription drug prices, and also to cap out-of-pocket costs for drugs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000 per calendar year and limit the price increases of drugmakers.
On the subject of climate change, it will cut emissions by 40 percent by 2030, according to proponents.
The law will also introduce new taxes on large corporations as well as their stock buyback programs and will provide funds to build the IRS’s tax services and enforcement.
The package includes $4 billion that will tackle the water shortage along the Colorado River.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi framed the legislation as an “kitchen table problem” during a news conference just hours before the time of the vote.
“If you’re on your dining room table and wondering what you’ll do to pay your bills that you owe, your health charges, your prescription drug bill, this bill is perfect for you,” Pelosi said.
House Republican leadership ridiculed the bill as the “Inflation, Recession, and IRS Army Act” in an email to all House Republicans office.
In a lengthy speech on the floor, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has criticized the bill as an “misguided and tone-deaf bill” that would increase taxes and give “out tax credits as candy with no accountability”.
Progressives applauded the legislation, but acknowledged they would have liked it to have taken on more to combat climate change and strengthen the nation’s social safety net.
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