WASHINGTON WATCH
Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act is heading to the House of Representatives for a vote on Friday after clearing the Senate this past weekend, and with it, some big changes could be coming to key sectors of the U.S. economy.
The measure, while a shrunken version of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better proposal, would pump billions of dollars into climate and healthcare programs, while levying new taxes on big companies and stock buybacks to pay for it all.
Below is a look at some of the key provisions of the bill, which passed the Senate on a 51-50 vote, as Vice President Kamala Harris broke a tie. No Republicans voted for it, as the GOP argued the measure wouldn’t live up to its name as an inflation-fighting measure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised the bill will get her chamber’s OK on Friday. Many lawmakers are expected to vote from home by proxy.
“On Friday, House Democrats will pass and send to the President the landmark Inflation Reduction Act,” the California Democrat wrote in a Thursday letter to colleague
CLIMA
The bill includes $369 billion for climate and energy provisions and would accelerate the U.S.’s transition away from fossil fuel
As MarketWatch reported, the bill’s energy and climate-focused incentives are peppered with rebates and tax credits that will directly impact households. They address heat pumps, appliance efficiency, solar panels, electric vehicles and mor
Now read: Here’s how the Inflation Reduction Act’s rebates and tax credits for heat pumps and solar can lower your energy bi
Sen. Joe Manchin, a key West Virginia Democrat, also said he’d secured a side agreement to advance an energy-permitting reform package before the end of September — which could make it easier to build pipeline
Investors on Monday saw an immediate impact of the Senate’s advancing the bill, as shares of solar EV and fuel-cell companies all rallie
See: Fuel cell, EV and solar stocks rally as climate bill makes ‘alternative’ energy more ‘in the mone
HEALTHCA
Medicare would be able to negotiate the cost of some prescription drugs with pharmaceutical companies under the deal — a provision that’s been blasted by the industry, which says the measure would throttle innovatio
Retirement: Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare is on track to negotiate drug prices — what it means for y
The bill also caps out-of-pocket drug costs for Americans on Medicare at $2,000 a year, beginning in 202
Before the deal, 13 million people were facing higher health-insurance premiums next year. Now, Affordable Care Act subsidies will be extended for three years, sparing millions of American
Democrats’ goal of lowering insulin prices for Medicare is expected to become law. But during a lengthy process to amend the bill over the weekend, Republicans blocked a $35 price cap on insulin costs for patients on private insuranc
TAX
The bill’s 15% minimum tax for large companies that pay little or nothing in income taxes could hit big names like Amazon and Tesla,