President Joe Biden signed a $750 billion health care, tax, and climate bill at the White House on Tuesday – a major victory for his administration and the Democratic Party ahead of midterm elections.
Biden said during a signing ceremony in the state dining room that the law, called the Inflation Reduction Act, is “one of the most important laws in our history.”
“With this legislation, the American people won and special interests lost,” Biden told Democratic members of Congress and administration officials. “For a while, people doubted whether this was going to happen, but we are in a season of substance.”
The signing of the bill this summer is the latest celebration of a major legislative achievement for Biden, who last week signed a bill at the White House aimed at increasing domestic semiconductor production and benefits for veterans affected by toxic burn pits in Afghanistan & Iraq.
Biden has won on several other fronts over the past few months, including a bipartisan gun reform bill, ordering a successful mission to kill al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and sending billions of aid to Ukraine to help that nation.
To protect. The process of joining NATO began with the invasion of Russia and with the help of Finland and Sweden.
And during Tuesday’s White House ceremony, the president underscored the importance of what he saw as the achievements of his administration when previous talks for his legislative agenda had failed.
“Today, we often confuse noise with substance. Too often we confuse failures with defeats. Too often we assign the biggest microphones to critics and detractors who are happy to announce failure while trying to make real progress.”
People committed to governance work hard,” the president told the audience. “Progress in this country, as big and complex as ours is, frankly, not easy. It’s never been easy. But with unwavering faith, commitment and patience, progress comes.”
The act complements several key Biden legislative agenda items, representing the largest climate investment in US history and giving Medicare the power to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs for the first time and end health care subsidies for three years.
Makes major changes in health policy. years. The legislation would reduce the deficit, be paid for through new taxes — including a 15% minimum tax on large corporations and a 1% tax on stock buybacks — and boost the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to collect.
It will raise more than $700 billion in government revenue over 10 years and spend more than $430 billion to reduce carbon emissions and expand subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and use the remaining new revenue to reduce the deficit.
Biden, in his remarks, offered sharp criticism of congressional Republicans for voting against the bill, turning their protests into a call to action in the polls.
He underlined that “every single Republican in Congress voted against this bill.”
“Every single Republican in Congress voted against lowering drug prices, against lowering health care costs, against a fair tax system. Every single Republican — every single one — was against tackling the climate crisis, our energy Voted against slashing costs, against creating.
Well-paying jobs. My fellow Americans, that’s the choice we face – whether we can protect the already powerful or show the courage to build the future, where everyone has an equal shot.”
A series of events focused on the rollout of the new law are expected in the coming weeks. The White House says Biden will soon host a cabinet meeting focused on the law’s implementation, travel around the country to highlight the bill’s impact on Americans, and attend a Labor Day White House celebration focused on the bill’s enactment.
Will take
Senate Democrats had long hoped to pass a signature legislative package that would include key agenda items for the party but struggled for months to reach a deal that won the full support of their caucus.
West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin – a key holdout during most of Biden’s term in office – played a key role in legislation, agreeing to a deal announced late last month. Schumer and Munchkin attend the signing ceremony at the White House on Tuesday.
Biden credited Schumer for the bill’s passage and, in a gesture of thanks, handed Manchin his pen after signing the bill into law.
Manchin later outlined the long, bumpy road to signing Tuesday’s bill, giving Biden “full credit” for allowing the process to run on Capitol Hill.
“He knew enough being a former senator. Sometimes you just have to let us do what we get to do, and I give him all the credit for it, and you don’t do anything of this magnitude to him – K With the President of the United States – not involved in what is happening,” Munchkin told reporters after signing the bill.
Munchkin also pushed back against the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis, which concluded that the new legislation will have little or no effect on inflation in the short term, telling CNN’s Caitlan Collins that “they haven’t always been right.” “And that the new law “basically” puts confidence in the market.
And he also acknowledged that it may take time for Americans to feel the effect of the law, predicting that “there may be visible progress in a year or two or three … but not in the next two, three.” It’s going to be four months.”
West Virginia Democrats also addressed Republicans in Congress, calling their opposition to the bill the “politics of the day.”
Earlier this month the bill passed in the Senate after 16 hours of amendment votes – known as Vote-a-Rama – and the House of Representatives approved the bill along party lines last Friday.
Bill Biden signed Tuesday does not include many of the provisions previously proposed as part of the president’s plan, including paid family and sick leave, universal pre-kindergarten, the expansion of the enhanced child tax credit, as well as provisions Includes reduction provisions. college cost.
A major legislative victory comes as the White House plans a major speech for Biden after Labor Day, which is being billed as a hard kick to the midterm campaigning.
Allies are preparing a speech that pockets the president’s special interests, hammering Republicans for being extremist while the president will tout tangible, long-discussed victories like slashing drug costs and gun restrictions.
Democrats are fighting to maintain their narrow majority in Congress. And it’s not entirely clear whether voters’ perceptions of the president or his party will improve after a summer of dismal voting.
Now, the White House is aiming to make the most of the victory including the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, as part of a flurry of re-establishing its image ahead of November’s elections.
Biden appeared on Tuesday making a campaign pitch focused on his optimism about the country’s future, arguing that he is capable of delivering the long-expected progress to the American people.
“To me, the important duty of the presidency is to defend what is best about America. … to advance justice, ensure fairness, and deliver results that create the possibility that we will all result in a nation And can live a life of prosperity. It’s safe and secure.
That’s what work is. Fulfilling that pledge guides me on this work every hour of every single day,” Biden said at the signing ceremony.
He said, “US Presidents should be judged not only by our words but by our actions, not by our rhetoric but by our actions, not by our promises, but by reality. And today is part of an extraordinary story that is being written.” This is our brave allies in the administration and Congress.”
