This is a major victory for an American president struggling in the polls.

After 18 months of negotiations, the US Senate adopted on Sunday August 7 a plan of 430 billion dollars (422 billion euros) aimed at combating climate change, lowering the price of drugs and increasing certain taxes on companies.

The law, called the "Inflation Reduction Act", passed by a vote of 51 to 50, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the deciding vote.

The Senate decision is a significant victory for Joe Biden just months into the midterms, which will determine control of the House of Representatives and Senate for the next two years. 

The text must now be considered by the House of Representatives, where a final vote is expected on Friday.

Joe Biden called on the House to vote as soon as possible, adding that he was eager to enact the law.

"The Senate is making history," said Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader.

"To Americans who have given up on the idea that Congress can do great things, this law is for you."

"This law will change America for decades," he added. 

This grand plan – the fruit of numerous compromises with his party's right wing – includes $370 billion to honor Joe Biden's very ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets and $64 billion for health.

Tax credits

This investment, the highest ever committed in the United States for the climate, is "historic", assured the president.

Because if the United States is affected each year by deadly floods and devastating fires, the climate crisis is very low in the list of concerns of American households, far behind inflation or unemployment.

To ensure that these expenses win the support of Americans, the Democrats have decided to touch them directly in the wallet: part of these funds will be used to finance tax credits for the producers and for the consumers of wind energy, solar and nuclear.

Several billion dollars in tax credits will also be offered to the most polluting industries in order to assist them in their transition, a measure strongly criticized by the left wing of the party, which had to line up behind this text, for lack of being reached a more ambitious agreement after long months of negotiations.

This envelope must also make it possible to strengthen the resilience of the forests in the face of the monster fires which are ravaging the American West and whose multiplication has been directly attributed to global warming.

More accessible drugs

The "Inflation Reduction Act", as it is called, intends in parallel to tackle the exorbitant price of drugs such as insulin and thus partially erase the immense inequalities in access to care in the United States.

"The anguish of people who are unable to pay for life-saving drugs is going to be significantly alleviated," said Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer.

This major reform would for the first time allow Medicare, a public health insurance system, to directly negotiate the prices of certain drugs with pharmaceutical companies, and thus obtain more competitive rates.

Joe Biden's camp vehemently denounces the prohibitive cost of certain treatments, which can be up to ten times more expensive than in other rich countries.

An indignation however far from being unanimously shared in the United States, where some believe that responding to the vagaries of life is a matter of individual foresight in which the State does not have to interfere.

Republicans denounce "looting"

This major spending plan, popular with Americans according to several polls, is indeed strongly denounced by the Republican opposition, which accuses Joe Biden of throwing oil on the fire in the face of record-breaking inflation.

"The Democrats have already plundered American families once through inflation and their solution now is to plunder them a second time," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said.

But the means of blocking the conservative camp are in fact limited: the Democrats exceptionally only need their votes to adopt the text.

The opposition, however, is expected to try to slow down the legislative process by presenting amendments on the chain during debates that could extend late into the night.

In parallel with these massive investments, the bill intends to reduce the public deficit with a new minimum tax of 15% for all companies whose profits exceed one billion dollars.

It aims to prevent certain large companies from using the tax loopholes which have allowed them to pay far less than the theoretical rate.

The text should be submitted to the vote of the senators at the beginning of next week.

After that, he will take the road to the House of Representatives, where Joe Biden's camp has a narrow majority.

The American president, who desperately needs a political success less than 100 days before the perilous midterm legislative elections, urges Congress to pass it without delay.

With Reuters and AFP

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