WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Sunday rejected attempts to amend a $430 billion measure sought by President Joe Biden as Democrats advanced efforts to pass a bill aimed at controlling climate change and reducing prescription drug costs for the elderly.
Senators working through the weekend to pass a bill central to Biden’s domestic agenda toiled into the early hours of the morning in hopes of passing the bill before the August recess begins. The bill also seeks to tighten enforcement of tax payments by corporations and the wealthy.
“It’s time to move forward with a big, bold package for the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at the start of Saturday night’s debate.
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He said the legislation contained “the boldest clean energy package in American history” to fight climate change while reducing consumer costs for some drugs and energy.
Democrats drew sharp attacks from Republicans over $430 billion in new spending and more than $740 billion in new revenue. Read more
Still, Democrats said their bill has deep support among voters. They hope its passage in the Senate and House by the end of next week will help Democratic candidates in the Nov. 8 midterm elections at a time when Biden, their party leader, is suffering from anemic public approval ratings.
Democrats are fighting to maintain their narrow control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
After spending several hours Saturday debating the legislation, senators locked in a “frame vote” in which Democratic and Republican amendments were offered quickly.
Hours into the effort, there were no visible signs of senators running out of energy or amendments, having defeated more than a dozen of them and approved none so far.
Well into the process, Republicans forced a vote on immigration fixes, including one to quickly hire more Border Patrol agents while cutting other spending.
Another Republican proposal would have enshrined in law a Trump administration policy stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic that has effectively shut down the U.S. asylum system. The Biden administration has been in a legal battle to replace the Title 42 policy with what it has described as a more humane and orderly system for migrants crossing the southwest border with Mexico.
Although the Title 42 amendment was defeated by a 50-50 vote, it is likely to become a campaign issue ahead of the November election, forcing vulnerable Democratic senators in border states such as Arizona’s Mark Kelly to defend their opposition.
Democrats were united in opposition to the amendments, fearing that any significant change could shatter their coalition of 50 senators needed to keep the legislation on track.
On Saturday, Schumer celebrated a House lawmaker’s decision to allow the bill to pass with just a simple majority, bypassing the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to pass most legislation. That would allow Democrats to override Republican objections to it.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a former Democratic-aligned presidential candidate, was soundly defeated by the first proposed amendment. It would have greatly expanded the number of prescription drugs in the bill eligible for price negotiation under the government’s Medicare insurance plan for seniors.
The 99-1 vote against the amendment drew only Sanders support.
The Senate also overwhelmingly rejected Sanders’ proposal to expand Medicare coverage for glasses, hearing aids and dental care.
This medical part of the sweeping bill, negotiated over several months by Democrats, would allow Medicare 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 out-of-pocket drug costs under the Medicare drug program.
GREEN INCENTIVES
Other parts of the bill would cut U.S. carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 through federal incentives for the production and purchase of electric vehicles and other “green” energy, with the goal of lowering energy prices overall at a time of high inflation.
The Senate also quickly rejected Republican amendments to cut a newly proposed tax on oil refineries to help pay for cleanup of toxic waste spills and another to immediately extend federal leasing to onshore oil drilling projects.
“Instead of begging dictators in other countries to increase oil and gas production, we should be expanding American production,” Republican Senator John Barrasso implored unsuccessfully.
The 755-page bill includes a 15 percent minimum corporate tax rate and closing loopholes that the wealthy can use to avoid paying taxes. It would also fund the hiring of more IRS employees to better enforce tax payments and impose a new excise tax on stock buybacks.
Republicans were expected to try to overturn a Democratic provision imposing a $35-a-month cap on insulin costs, which have skyrocketed.
The U.S. pharmaceutical industry lobbied against the initiative, which Republicans dismissed as dangerous “socialist price controls.”
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Reporting by Richard Cowan Editing by Robert Birsell, Susan Fenton and Frances Carey
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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