US Congress approves billions for climate and social affairs

Created: 08/13/2022Updated: 08/13/2022 04:38

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and her fellow Democratic Party members celebrate on Capitol Hill.

© Susan Walsh/AP/dpa

US President Biden's plans seemed to have already failed.

After all, he got a legislative package through Congress.

It's a win - but not as ambitious as it was at the beginning.

Washington - Success for US President Joe Biden: After a long dispute, Congress in Washington passed a package of laws on investments in the billions in climate protection and the social sector.

After the Senate, the House of Representatives also approved the so-called Anti-Inflation Act on Friday.

In both houses of parliament, all votes for the law came from US President Joe Biden's Democrats, while all votes against came from the ranks of Republicans.

After the vote, Biden announced that he would sign the law next week.

On September 6, he will also hold a "celebration in honor of this historic legislation" at the White House.

Biden had previously spoken of the largest US investment to date to combat climate change.

Biden's original plans for climate protection and social reforms were among the core projects of his tenure.

The current package is a compromise because of disputes within his party.

It contains only a fraction of what the President once wanted to push through.

Biden wrote on Twitter Friday night that the law "required a lot of compromises.

This is almost always the case with important things.”

The fact that the law was passed at all is a remarkable victory for the president - hardly expected until recently.

Biden has struggled with poor approval ratings for a long time.

According to statistics from the Fivethirtyeight website, which brings together various surveys, only a good 40 percent are satisfied with their work, more than 55 percent are not.

His stats have improved a bit lately.

Biden's Democrats are still threatened with a serious defeat in November: In the congressional elections, the Republicans are expected to have a good chance of winning the majority in the House of Representatives.

Then Biden, who is already causing problems for the dissenter in his own party, will have even more difficult time with proposed legislation.

After the law was passed, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock particularly appreciated its climate aspect.

"Our chance of getting below the two-degree path at all has increased a bit today," said the Green politician early on Saturday morning in Berlin.

"The largest climate investment program in US history will make a tangible contribution to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and implementing the Paris Climate Agreement."

The so-called Anti-Inflation Act that Congress has now passed is much broader than its name suggests.

It includes the following aspects, among others:

climate protection

Around 370 billion dollars (about 359 billion euros) are to be invested in this area over the next ten years.

The aim is to promote the manufacture of solar cells and wind turbines.

Financial incentives are also provided for the construction of electric car plants.

Energy research should be promoted.

The measures should lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions in the USA of around 40 percent by 2030.

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Cheaper drugs

For the first time, the state health insurance for older or disabled people (Medicare) should be allowed to negotiate the prices for certain expensive drugs directly with the pharmaceutical companies.

The Democrats expect savings of almost $290 billion over ten years.

By 2025, patient co-payments for medication will be capped at $2,000 per year.

In addition, health insurance premiums are expected to decrease for millions of Americans.

Steer

The legislative package is intended to close tax loopholes.

Companies with profits of more than one billion dollars a year should pay at least 15 percent in taxes in the future.

This minimum tax should flush around 313 billion dollars into the household coffers over the next ten years.

The IRS is expected to receive an additional $80 billion over the same period.

This should enable the IRS to collect an additional $124 billion in taxes from the wealthy and highly profitable companies.

Families with a household income of less than $400,000 a year should not be affected, according to the US government.

deficit reduction

The US government assumes that the legislative package can reduce the state deficit by more than $300 billion.

This should also slow down inflation, which was 8.5 percent in July.

dpa