On Saturday night, the US Senate voted along party lines to advance the debate on the Democrats’ energy, health and tax bills, removing a major obstacle to passage.
The Rated 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tieauthorizes the chamber to discuss and vote on amendments a the measure and indicated that he had enough support from the Democrats to overcome the unified Republican opposition.
“We will show the American people that, yes, we can pass a historic climate package, curb pharmaceutical companies and make our tax code fairer,” majority leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote. “We are able to make great promises and also work hard to keep them.
“This is one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching pieces of legislation that have been presented to Congress in recent decades,” added the New York Democrat. “It will help almost all the citizens of this country and make America a much better place.”
As expected, every Republican voted against the measure. Republicans inside and outside the Senate have criticized the measure for overspending during a recession by doing little to tackle consumer inflation, which they say is the main problem Americans face.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell focused his remarks on the provisions of the measure allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices of some prescription drugs, saying it would lead to a drastic reduction in research and development efforts in the private sector.
“Democrat policy would not create a paradise where we get all the amazing new innovations we would have got anyway, but at lower prices,” he said. “Their policy would create a world where far fewer new drugs and treatments are invented in the first place, as companies cut back on research and development.”
The White House said on Saturday that President Joe Biden’s administration “strongly supports” the bill.
“This legislation would lower the costs of health care, prescription drugs and energy, invest in energy security and make our tax code fairer, all while fighting inflation and reducing deficits,” the policy statement said. administrative.
Saturday session
The vote opened a rare Senate session over the weekend – while the chamber was scheduled for the August recess – which is expected to include up to 20 hours of debate and consideration of 40 to 50 amendments in a “rama vote.”
Depending on the duration of the debate and the amendment votes, there will be a final vote on Sunday or Monday.
The bill, negotiated primarily by Schumer and West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin III with further changes made at the behest of Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, would be spending nearly $ 370 billion on clean energy programsallow Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices starting in 2026 and change the tax code and strengthen Internal Revenue Enforcement to bring in more than $ 400 billion in new revenue over 10 years.
A July 29th analyses from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business found that the bill would have negligible impact on inflation.
After negotiating with Sinema and submitting the bill to the Senate MP to ensure all provisions fit for budget reconciliation review, the Democrats released an updated invoice of 755 pages longer minutes before the vote to open the debate on Saturday.
The reconciliation process allows Democrats to pass the bill by a simple majority, instead of the usual 60-vote threshold.
The CBO sent Schumer an incomplete score of the bill updated on Saturday. The estimate showed that seven of the eight spending sections would increase the deficit by $ 115 over 10 years. It did not include revenue projections.
Among the latest changes to the bill was an addition of $ 4 billion to tackle the western drought.
Western Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Michael Bennet of Colorado announced they have secured funding for the Bureau of Reclamation to tackle droughts in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado.
“The western United States is experiencing an unprecedented drought and it is essential that we have the resources we need to support our states’ efforts to combat climate change, conserve water and protect the Colorado River Basin,” they said. a joint declaration.
The Democrats also added a provision a limit on the price of insulin co-pay for Americans at $ 35 from 2024. The language of insulin, however, may be challenged by Republicans on the floor.
Another provision, promoted by Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, and included in the initial draft of the bill, would do permanently extend the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which provides monthly payments and medical benefits to disabled coal miners who developed black lung disease while working in coal mines.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the reduced costs of prescription drugs and changes to the tax code more than offset the bill, reducing the deficit by about $ 100 billion. The additional application of the IRS would bring the total deficit reduction to approximately $ 300 billion.
Those projections have not stopped Republicans from criticizing the bill as a “tax and expense” measure.
The deficit reduction would amount to less than 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 10 years, Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, said Friday.
“This will be a total rounding error,” he said. “So that’s what they’re using to justify and that’s their strongest argument, it’s a pretty weak strong argument.”
Forcing hard grades
Most of the amendments to the Democratic draft bill should come from Republicans, some with the express purpose of forcing Democrats to take tough political positions before the November elections.
GOP conference chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming said Republicans will propose amendments on immigration, crime, inflation and energy policy.
US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the amendment votes would be “like hell.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, said the House would return from the August break to vote on a Senate-approved bill on Friday.