Kiawah Island : President Joe Biden will sign Democrats’ historic climate change and health care bill on Tuesday, which he calls the “final piece” of his domestic agenda, as he aims to improve his party’s standing with voters in less than three months. is to promote. before the midterm elections.
The legislation includes the most significant federal investment in history to fight climate change — about $375 billion over a decade — and would reduce drug costs by $2,000 annually for Medicare recipients. It will also help an estimated 13 million Americans pay for health care insurance by expanding subsidies provided during the coronavirus pandemic.
This measure is paid for by increasing IRS enforcement of new taxes on large companies and wealthy individuals and entities, with additional money going to reduce the federal deficit.
The House approved the measure on a party-line 220-207 vote on Friday. It was passed a few days before the Senate breaking a 50-50 tie in that chamber with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden is set to sign the bill during a small ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House, sandwiched between returning from a six-day beach vacation in South Carolina and departing for his home in Wilmington, Delaware . Once lawmakers return to Washington, they plan to hold a large “festival” for the legislation on September 6.
The signing has spurred legislative productivity for Biden and Congress, which in three months approved legislation on veterans’ benefits, the semiconductor industry and gun checks for young buyers. The president and lawmakers have also responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supported NATO membership for Sweden and Finland.
with Biden’s With approval ratings lagging, Democrats are hoping a string of successes will boost their chances of retaining control in Washington in mid-November. The 79-year-old president aims to restore his own standing with voters as he considers a re-election bid.
The White House announced Monday that it is deploying Biden and members of his cabinet on a “Building a Better America tour” to boost recent victories, though the administration has yet to announce a specific visit by the president. is of.
In the coming weeks, the president will host a cabinet meeting focused on enacting the Inflation Reduction Act, travel around the country to highlight how the bill will help the American people, and celebrate the bill’s enactment. Will host an event for the White House on September 6,” the White House said in a statement.
Republicans say the law’s new business tax will drive up prices, worsening the country’s battle with its highest inflation since 1981. Although Democrats have labeled the Inflation Reduction Act measure, non-partisan analysts say it will have a barely perceptible effect on prices.
The measure is a slimmed-down version of a more ambitious plan to supercharge environmental and social programs that Biden and his party unveiled early last year.
Biden’s initial 10-year, $3.5 trillion proposal also envisioned free preschool, paid family and medical leave, expanded Medicare benefits and easing immigration restrictions. Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va. After it crashed, said it was too expensive, using the leverage of each Democrat in an equally divided Senate.
Still, Biden and Democrats are welcoming the legislation as a once-in-a-generation investment in addressing the long-term effects of climate change, as well as drought in the country’s west.
The bill covers spending on technology such as solar panels, consumer efforts to improve home energy efficiency, emissions-reducing equipment for coal and gas-fired power plants, and air pollution control for farms, ports and low-cost, tax credits. and will direct the loan. income communities.
Another $64 billion will help 13 million people pay premiums over the next three years for privately purchased health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Medicare will regain its cost-negotiating power for pharmaceuticals, initially for only 10 drugs in 2026. Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket drug costs from 2025 will be limited to US$2,000 a year, and no more than US$35 monthly for insulin, the expensive diabetes drug, beginning next year.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.
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