Tuesday at the White House, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, investing $473 billion in additional spending on climate and healthcare despite fears that it would do nothing to cut inflation.
Biden complimented Joe Manchin, the moderate Democratic senator who voted against his first Build Back Better proposal and who, after months of discussions, eventually supported the revised measure, which included a gas pipeline guarantee for his home state of West Virginia. Republicans have slammed the measure, alleging that it would increase taxes on the middle class and do nothing to curb rising prices.
‘Joe, I never had a doubt,’ he told the Democrat during a bill-signing event, where Biden lauded the legislation as a weapon against special interests.
Biden, who donned a mask when first wife Jill Biden tested positive for COVID, referred to it as a “historic event” and criticized Republicans for voting against it unanimously.
He told Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, who helped create the final arrangement with Manchin, that for a while there was skepticism that any of it would occur.
Schumer termed it the’most significant’ action taken by Congress in a long time. Additionally, he lauded ‘one of the most productive periods in Senate history’ and curiously said to the president, ‘We wouldn’t be here without you.’
Biden returned to the White House on Tuesday from vacation to sign a bill that party leaders grabbed from the jaws of defeat. After a quick victory lap, he jetted back to Delaware.
The House approved the law on a party-line vote on Friday, 220-207, after it narrowly cleared the Senate on Tuesday, 51-50, with all Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris voting for it under the reconciliation procedure, which shielded it from a Republican filibuster.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022: Specifics
The new bill by Senators Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer would generate $739 billion in more income via a number of provisions.
By establishing a 15 percent corporate minimum tax, $313 billion might be raised.
$288 billion resulting from Medicare’s ability to negotiate cheaper medicine costs
$124 billion from robust IRS tax law enforcement
$14 billion as a result of addressing the carried interest loophole for investment managers
The GOP is victorious in the bill:
Republicans compelled Democrats to eliminate a measure that would have capped the price of insulin at $35.
Senator John Thune’s proposal exempts certain corporations from the recently enacted minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent.
In addition, the package contains $433 billion in additional spending:
$369 billion on energy security and climate change
$64 billion to extend Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
This would leave $300 billion for deficit reduction.
It is one of Biden’s greatest legislative accomplishments, and the president has arranged a bill signing in the State Dining Room to support it.
It occurs after a well-rested Biden returns from a vacation on South Carolina’s Kiawah Island at the house of a Democratic contributor, after a bout with covid and a subsequent rebound case.
According to the White House schedule, Biden will spend little over five hours in the facility.
Tuesday, the White House disclosed that first lady Jill Biden had tested positive for covid on a PCR test, bringing the Bidens’ poor health news total to three.
Biden will travel to the couple’s Wilmington residence quickly after signing the law, while she will stay in South Carolina.
According to the White House, Biden tested negative on an antigen test Tuesday morning and will wear a mask for 10 days when he is in close proximity to other people.
Soon, he will return on the road in an effort to sell the law and give Democrats a lift as they attempt to retain control of the House and Senate, where the party has recently seen polling increases in key Senate races.
In the next weeks, the President will conduct a Cabinet meeting focused on executing the Inflation Reduction Act, tour the nation to emphasize how the measure will benefit the American people, and celebrate the bill’s passage at the White House on September 6.
The law comprises $430 billion in expenditure, generates $737 billion in income over a decade, and is estimated to reduce the deficit by around $300 billion. It generates $265 billion by enabling the government to negotiate lower Medicare prescription medication prices with pharmaceutical firms.
Its climate measures, totalling $369 billion, are estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 40% compared to previous levels, and it contains renewals of Affordable Care Act subsidies totaling $64 billion.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) insisted on the new excise tax on stock buybacks after vetoing a proposal to fix the ‘carried interest loophole.’ Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) had been negotiating this measure with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer when the two struck an agreement that resurrected the stalled bill.
It discarded many of the main social programs from Biden’s initial Build Back Better package, but provided Democrats with a piece of legislation to campaign on as the fall elections approach.