US President Biden wants to advance climate protection and social reforms in the USA with an investment package worth billions. After a long struggle and many compromises, he is now celebrating the passage of the legislative package. He badly needed such a success.
The US Congress has passed a package of laws to invest billions in climate protection and social affairs. After the Senate, the House of Representatives also approved the so-called Anti-Inflation Act. In both chambers, all votes in favor of the law came from US President Joe Biden's Democrats, while all votes against came from the ranks of Republicans.
US President Joe Biden has already announced that he will sign the law into law next week. He previously spoke of the largest US investment to date to combat climate change. "Today the American people won," the Democratic Party politician wrote on Twitter. "Families will see lower prescription drug prices, lower healthcare costs, and lower energy bills."
Biden's original plans for climate protection and social reforms were among the core projects of his tenure. The current package is a compromise because of disputes within his party. It contains only a fraction of what Biden once wanted to push through. However, the fact that the law was passed at all is a remarkable success for the president - until recently this was hardly expected.
On Sunday, the Senate voted by a wafer-thin majority for the package, which, in addition to the equivalent of 359 billion euros for climate protection, also provides 64 billion dollars (62 billion euros) for the health care system. In addition, the state health insurance company Medicare is to be given the right to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs with the pharmaceutical industry, which should lead to lower prices.
The law also provides for a consistent minimum tax rate of 15 percent for large companies, and tax loopholes are to be closed. The additional revenue should lead to a reduction in the budget deficit and thus also to a reduction in inflation. The law is therefore called the Inflation Reduction Act.
A few months before the midterm congressional elections in November, the passage of the law, even in its slimmed down version, is a great success for the president and his Democratic Party. Many Democrats -- and their constituents -- have been frustrated over the past few months that large parts of Biden's reform agenda have not moved forward.
