The Inflation Reduction Act is signed by Biden with some compromise
President Joe Biden signed his comprehensive tax, health, and climate measure into law after more than a year of debate over expenses, taxes, tax credits, and regulations; nonetheless, the bill is a drastically watered-down version of the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan he was fighting for last year.
With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , Senator Joe Manchin, and Representatives Jim Clyburn and Kathy Castor looking on, President signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law.
Before signing the bill, President Biden declared, “With this law, the American people won and the special interests lost.”
Investments of $369 billion in climate and energy policies, $64 billion to extend a programme under the Affordable Care Act to cut health insurance costs, and a 15% corporate minimum tax aimed at corporations earning more than $1 billion a year are all part of the new law.
Over the following decade, the government anticipates collecting $737 billion thanks to the $437 billion expenditure plan, the most of which will come from tax increases on corporations and reductions in prescription prices for Medicare users. Roughly $124 billion is anticipated from stricter and more frequent audits of the wealthy by the Internal Revenue Service. Estimates suggest a deficit savings of approximately $300 billion over ten years as a result of this plan.
Biden had to compromise on some of the things he wanted most in his initial Build Back Better package, such as tax cuts for the middle class and universal child care, in order to reach a compromise. To move the plan forward, conservative Democrat Manchin and Schumer finally reached an agreement earlier this month.
A provision that would have closed the so-called carried interest loophole, which allows private equity managers and hedge fund executives to pay significantly lower tax rates than most taxpayers, was held up in the evenly divided Senate at the last minute by Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Schumer thanked Manchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, before presenting the president. Schumer also complimented the White House staff “who gave it their all to finishing this bill.”
On August 7, with no support from Republicans, the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 51 to 50. Democrats won with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote.
On Friday, the bill received 220 yes votes in the House and 207 no votes.
During his remarks, Biden mentioned that every Republican in the House had voted against the bill.
“Let’s be clear. In this historic moment, Democrats sided with the American people and every single Republican in the Congress sided with a special interest in this vote,” he said. “Every single one.”