WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Saturday advanced a bill to tackle key elements of President Joe Biden’s agenda – tackling climate change, reducing energy and drug costs for seniors and forcing some corporations and wealthy Americans to pay more taxes.
In a key first test of Democrats’ ability to win passage of the sweeping legislation, the Senate voted 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie during a rare Saturday session to begin what could be an extended debate on the measure. All 50 Republicans voted against moving forward with the legislation.
Procedural voting created a difficult process, with senators poised to offer amendment after amendment in a time-consuming “frame vote.”
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I am registering
Senate lawmakers have decided that the lion’s share of health care provisions in the $430 billion bill can only be passed with a simple majority, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, bypassing the filibuster rule requiring 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to advance. most laws and allowing Democrats to override Republican objections to it.
Democrats hope the legislation will give their candidates a boost in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, in which Biden’s party is in an uphill battle to maintain its narrow control of the Senate and House of Representatives. Democrats are pitching the legislation as a means to fight inflation, a top concern of U.S. voters this year.
“When passed, the bill will accomplish all of our goals: fighting climate change, reducing health care costs, closing tax loopholes abused by the wealthy and reducing the deficit,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.
There are three main parts of the bill’s tax provisions: a 15% minimum tax on corporations and closing loopholes the wealthy can use to avoid paying taxes; tougher IRS enforcement; and a new excise tax on share buybacks.
The legislation calls for $430 billion in new spending, along with raising more than $740 billion in new revenue. Read more
Democrats said the legislation would lead to a 40 percent reduction in U.S. carbon emissions, which are blamed for climate change, by 2030.
“PRICE FIXING”
The measure would also allow the state’s Medicare health insurance program for the elderly to begin negotiations in 2026 with the pharmaceutical industry over the prices of a limited number of prescription drugs as a way to reduce costs. It would also put a cap of $2,000 a year on your out-of-pocket drug costs under a Medicare drug program.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell attacked the provision, which would involve drug price bargaining, comparing it to past “price-fixing” attempts by countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and the former Soviet Union.
“Their policies would lead to a world where far fewer new drugs and treatments are invented in the first place as companies cut back on research and development,” McConnell said in his speech, referring to research and development.
The legislation is a watered-down version of a much broader and more expensive measure that many Democrats on the party’s left had hoped to pass last year. That measure stalled when centrist Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin backed out, complaining it would exacerbate inflationary pressures.
The bill calls for billions of dollars to encourage the production and purchase of more electric vehicles and promote clean energy. It would also commit $4 billion in new federal funds for drought relief, a provision that could help the re-election campaigns of Democratic senators Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada and Mark Kelly in Arizona.
Democrats are seeking to push the bill through the Senate using the complicated “reconciliation” procedure that allows passage without Republican support in the 50-50 chamber, with Democrats in control because Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the deciding vote.
One cut of the bill’s provision would force drug companies to reimburse both public and private health plans if drug prices rise faster than inflation.
Senators on the left like Bernie Sanders are likely to try to expand the scope of the bill to include new programs such as federal subsidies for child care or home health care for the elderly. Republicans have signaled that they will propose amendments that address another issue: immigrants coming across the U.S. border with Mexico.
Some Democrats said they would vote against all the amendments, fearing they could derail a delicately negotiated deal.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I am registering
Reporting by Richard Cowan and McKinney Bryce; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Add Comment