House Democrats send long-awaited healthcare and climate bill to President JoeBiden's desk
The bill passed along party lines in a 220-207 vote and includes allowances for Medicare to negotiate some drug prices, price caps on insulin for Medicare recipients, the largest climate provision ever undertaken, increases on some corporate taxes, and an expansion of the Internal Revenue Service. It will quickly come before Biden, who will sign the bill and secure another legislative victory for his agenda and for Democrats to tout before the midterm elections.
"You can’t tax and spend your way out of an inflation crisis," House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted Friday. "On one hand, it does not add to inflation, which was what the previous concern that people had about passing legislation like this right now," Kent Smetters, a faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, told NPR."But at the same it doesn't really take away from the rise in prices either."
Some of the climate and energy provisions include tax incentives to buy electric vehicles and shoring up domestic production of renewable energy components, such as solar panels. The legislation, Democrats say, will move the United States toward decreasing carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 40% by 2030, less than the Biden administration's initial goal of a 50% reduction.