On Sunday, the US Senate approved President Joe Biden’s massive climate and health plan, giving the White House an important interim victory less than 100 days before a crucial election.
The plan, worth more than $430 billion, was approved by Democrats only, and will be passed next week to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to be approved by a final vote before the president signs it into law.
After 18 months of negotiations, and a night of marathon debate, the House passed the plan with Democrats holding a slim majority in the Senate, needing only their votes to pass the text.
electric cars
The plan is the largest investment by the United States in the field of climate, amounting to 370 billion dollars, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. It is the result of hard negotiations with the right wing of the Democratic Party.
Under this reform, an American citizen gets about $7,500 in tax credits when he buys an electric car.
And it gets 30% coverage when installing solar panels on its roof.
The project also aims to strengthen the protection of forests in the face of the intense fires ravaging the American West, the growth of which is attributed to global warming.
It will also grant multi-billion dollar tax breaks to the most polluting industries to help them transition in the energy field, a measure sharply criticized by the party’s left wing, which acquiesced in support of the text for not being able to reach a better deal after months of negotiations.
Biden came to power hoping for major reforms, and saw his ambitions buried by the ultra-moderate senator from his camp, Joe Manchin.
With the Democrats enjoying a slim majority in the Senate, a West Virginia representative has a veto.
At the end of July, the leader of the Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer, finally succeeded in extracting a settlement with Manchin, who is known to own coal mines. On Saturday, senators finally began debating the text in the plenary hall.
In addition to huge investments, the bill aims to reduce the public deficit by imposing a new tax of 15 percent as a minimum on all companies whose profits exceed one billion dollars.
It aims to prevent some large companies from using tax loopholes that have so far allowed them to pay far less than the theoretical rate.
It is estimated that this measure could generate more than $258 billion in revenue for the US federal administration over the next ten years.