President Joe Biden is set to sign Democrats’ landmark climate change and health care bill Tuesday, delivering what he described as the “last slice” of his narrowed national agenda less than three months earlier, improving his party’s standing with voters’ want midterm elections.
The legislation includes the largest federal investment in history to fight climate change, about $375 billion over the decade, and would limit prescription drug costs to $2,000 per year for Medicare beneficiaries. It would also help an estimated 13 million Americans pay for health insurance by extending subsidies provided during the coronavirus pandemic.
The measure will be paid for with new taxes for large corporations and increased IRS enforcement for wealthy individuals and corporations, with additional funds earmarked for federal deficit reduction. On Friday, the House of Representatives passed the measure by a margin of 220 to 207 along the party line.
The Senate approved it days earlier when Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie in that chamber. Biden is scheduled to sign the law into law during a small ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House between his return from a day at the beach in South Carolina and his departure home in Wilmington, Delaware.
He plans to hold a major “celebration” for the Legislature on Sept. 6 once lawmakers return to Washington. The signing caps a productivity boost for Biden and Congress, which in three months passed legislation on veterans’ benefits, the semiconductor industry, and gun controls for young buyers.
The President and MPs also responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and supported Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership. With Biden’s approval rating lagging, Democrats are hoping the string of wins will boost their chances of maintaining control of Washington in November’s midterm elections.
The 79-year-old president wants to restore his standing with voters as he ponders re-election. The White House announced Monday it will send Biden and members of his cabinet on a “Building a Better America Tour” to promote recent victories, though the administration is yet to announce specific trips for the president.
In the coming weeks, the President will host a Cabinet meeting focused on implementing the Anti-Inflation Act, travel across the country to highlight how the Act will help the American people, and host an event to celebrate his signing of the Act the bill in the White House on Sept. 6,” the White House said in a statement.
Republicans say the law’s new corporate taxes will push up prices and worsen the nation’s struggle with the highest inflation since 1981. Although Democrats have dubbed the measure the Inflation Reduction Act, impartial analysts say it will have a little noticeable impact on prices.
A stripped-down version of the more ambitious plan to boost environmental and social programs that Biden and his party unveiled early last year. relaxed immigration restrictions.
That collapsed after centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. said it was too costly to use the influence each Democrat has in the evenly divided Senate. Investments to address the long-term effects of climate change and drought in the nation’s west.
The bill will direct spending, tax credits, and loans to encourage technologies such as solar panels, consumer efforts to improve home energy efficiency, emission-reducing equipment for coal-fired power plants and gas, and clean air for farms, ports and energy-efficient plants. low-income communities.
Another $64 billion would help 13 million people pay premiums for privately purchased health insurance under the Affordable Care Act over the next three years. Medicare would be given the power to negotiate its costs for pharmaceutical products, starting in 2026 for just 10 drugs.
Medicare beneficiaries’ prescription costs would be capped at $2,000 a year starting in 2025, and starting next year they would pay no more than $35 a month for insulin, the expensive diabetes drug.