Senate Democrats pass sweeping climate and health bill


The Senate on Sunday passed a $430 billion bill that funds investments to fight climate change, lowers the cost of prescription drugs, and raises some corporate taxes.
Called the Inflation Reduction Act, the legislation also puts billions of dollars toward deficit reduction, NBC News reports. The 51-50 vote was along party lines, with every Republican senator voting against it and Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote. The measure will now go to the House, where a vote is expected on Friday.
"After more than a year of hard work, the Senate is making history," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday. "I am confident that the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The legislation sets aside more than $300 billion to combat climate change and boost clean energy, including incentives for ranchers and farmers to curb their methane emissions and an extension of the electric vehicle tax credit. It also allows Medicare, for the first time ever, to negotiate prices with drug companies, and caps the price of insulin for people 65 and older on Medicare. To raise revenue, the bill imposes a new 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations, with accelerated depreciation exempted, and a 1 percent excise tax on stock buybacks.
"I don't know if there's been any Congress and president that has been as productive as we've seen in this Congress," Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told NBC News. "This president keeps putting up historic bills that are meeting the urgencies of the American public."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
July 13 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include new TSA rules, FEMA cuts, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy complimenting Donald Trump's new wardrobe
-
5 weather-beaten cartoons about the Texas floods
Cartoons Artists take on funding cuts, politicizing tragedy, and more
-
What has the Dalai Lama achieved?
The Explainer Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has just turned 90, and he has been clarifying his reincarnation plans
-
Iran still has enriched uranium, Israeli official says
Speed Read It remains unclear how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US and Israeli attacks
-
Trump U-turns on weapons to Ukraine
Speed Read Unhappy with Putin, Trump decides the US will go back to arming Ukraine against Russia's attacks
-
Ukraine scrambles as Trump cuts weapons deliveries
Speed Read The halting of weapons shipments was driven by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, a Ukraine funding skeptic
-
IAEA: Iran could enrich uranium 'within months'
Speed Read The chief United Nations nuclear inspector, Rafael Grossi, says Iran could be enriching uranium again soon
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
Iran nukes program set back months, early intel suggests
Speed Read A Pentagon assessment says US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites only set the program back by months, not years. This contradicts President Donald Trump's claim.
-
Trump says Iran and Israel agreed to ceasefire
Speed Read This followed a night of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and multiple waves of missiles fired by Iran
-
Israel strikes Iran, killing military and nuclear chiefs
Speed Read Israeli officials said the attack was a 'preemptive' strike on Iran's nuclear program