Despite GOP opposition to the billions in spending and drug price reforms, the Senate on Sunday passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) 51-50 along party lines, giving Democrats a major legislative victory as the midterm cycle picks up.
The extensive legislation on the climate, taxes, and health care is now poised for swift approval in the Democratic-controlled House, with a timetable announcement to follow before President Joe Biden signs it into law.
Senate Passes $430 Billion Reconciliation Bill
Supporters of the bill are quick to point out provisions that, among other things, increase taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, permit Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug costs, expand the Affordable Care Act's health care program, and invest in the fight against climate change by implementing tax credits for clean energy initiatives.
Vice President Kamala Harris gave the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against the measure. The bill was approved through the budget reconciliation procedure, which only needs a simple majority in place of the usual 60 votes required to end a filibuster, according to ABC News.
In a statement, President Joe Biden applauded its ratification and urged the House of Representatives to fall into line so he could sign it into law. Secret negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin resulted in the climate change and healthcare plan, which adds around $433 billion in new expenditure.
Today, Senate Democrats voted to lower the cost of Rx drugs, health insurance, and energy — all while reducing the deficit and making the richest corporations pay their fair share.
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 7, 2022
I ran to make government work for working families again.
That’s what this bill does — period.
John Thune, the Senate GOP whip, proposed an amendment to the final plan that would allow for exceptions to the 15 percent minimum corporation tax rate. On Sunday morning, Senate Republicans were successful in getting Democrats to drop a clause from their proposal that would have limited the cost of insulin for all Americans to only $35, Daily Mail reported.
In a protracted procedure known as a vote-a-rama, senators were inside the US Capitol from Saturday night till Sunday morning, voting on scores of changes to the Democrats' budget measure.
Despite the Senate parliamentarian's finding that the insulin cap breaches the rules of the budget reconciliation process used to approve the law, Democrats had decided to keep it in the bill.
Experts Doubt the Success of the Inflation Reduction Act
On Sunday, Republicans raised a point of order, which required a vote among the entire floor to decide whether to overrule the parliamentarian. In the end, the bill failed to receive the required 60 votes by three votes. A total of 43 lawmakers voted to repeal the price restriction. However, Wisconsin's Republican Senator Ron Johnson claimed that Democrats had deceived the Senate by purposefully disobeying its rules.
The negotiations for the bill repeatedly seemed to be dead; they only resumed in recent weeks and ended in a shocking compromise reached by Schumer and Manchin last week.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said on Thursday that she would vote in favor of the legislation after obtaining pledges on drought relief and tax adjustments. This gave Democrats the necessary votes to pass the package in the equally divided Senate.
Democrats framed and labeled the proposal as a method to lower consumer costs amid 40-year high inflation, but analysts dispute how successful it would be in that sense. The impact on inflation was expected to be "statistically indistinguishable from zero" over the long run and to modestly boost inflation before 2024, according to the Penn Wharton budget model at the University of Pennsylvania.
The law would "nudge the economy and inflation in the right direction, while substantially tackling climate change and decreasing the government's budget deficits," according to a Moody's Analytics analysis.
In a press conference, Schumer called the legislation "the most significant bill to fight the climate crisis ever," but he also said that during negotiations, he warned his caucus that they "were going to have to swallow some bad stuff to get the good stuff," such as Manchin's permitting reform, which is thought to benefit the fossil fuel industry.
Although several of Biden's expansive social programs from his initial Build Back Better proposal were not included in the Inflation Reduction Act, including the child tax credit and family leave, Schumer promised that Senate Democrats "will return to those issues with a passion in the fall," as per USA Today.
Related Article : Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Raises Concern on Proposed Tax Bill as Democrats Race To Get a Vote for Manchin-Backed Spending Agenda
