United States: the climate and health investment plan, a breath of fresh air for Biden and the Democrats
Joe Biden has signed into law his climate and health investment plan.
© Getty Images
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
US President Joe Biden promulgated his climate and health investment plan on Tuesday, August 16.
This brings his Democratic camp an important political victory less than three months before decisive legislative elections.
Advertising
Read more
The biggest investment in the United States in the fight against climate change, the text provides for a series of
financial incentives intended to move the American economy
towards renewable energies.
It also limits the price of certain drugs and creates a minimum tax rate on big business.
“
A country can be transformed.
This is what is happening today
, ”said Mr. Biden, in a speech with electoral overtones delivered before signing this reform, called the
Inflation Reduction Act
, at the White House.
“
It's about the future.
It's about bringing progress and prosperity to American families, he said.
It's about showing America and the American people that democracy still works in the United States.
»
The result of
difficult negotiations with the right wing of the Democratic Party
- in particular, it was necessary to convince Senator
Joe Manchin
, who fought bitterly against the plan - the envelope includes the largest investment ever committed in the United States for the climate - 370 billion dollars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. Joe Biden originally advocated for an even larger investment plan, but the very fact that he can enact this reform represents a a near-political resurrection for Democrats ahead of November's midterm elections, traditionally lost by the ruling camp.
Lower drug prices
The second part of this major investment plan intends to partially correct the huge inequalities in access to care in the United States, in particular by lowering the price of drugs.
Joe Biden insisted on this device, pleading on the social commitment of the Democrats.
With the final passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the American people are going to see lower prescription drug prices, lower health care costs, and lower energy costs, and big corporations are finally going to start to pay their fair share.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 15, 2022
Medicare
, a public health insurance system intended for the over 65s, among others, will for the first time be able to negotiate the prices of certain drugs directly with pharmaceutical companies, and thus obtain more competitive prices.
To finance these investments, the reform provides for the adoption of a minimum tax rate of 15% for all companies whose profits exceed one billion dollars.
This new tax aims to prevent certain large companies from using the tax loopholes which have allowed them to pay far less than the theoretical rate.
It is estimated that this measure could generate more than $258 billion in US federal revenue over the next ten years.
A difficult year for the Democratic administration
It's a breath of fresh air for the Democratic administration, bruised by the
chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan
last year, the
successive waves of Covid
,
inflation at its highest
for forty years.
The Biden administration has had a tough year.
Moreover, its efforts have often been hampered by a very narrow majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Polls predict the Republicans will win a solid majority in the House of Representatives in November, or even win the Senate, which could make Joe Biden a pothead president until the end of his term in 2024. But while the Republicans are mired in the scandal of Donald Trump's recklessness over classified "
top secret
" documents moved to his personal Mar-a-Lago residence, where
the FBI had to go get them
this week, Joe Biden noted a few points in recent weeks: the law regulating firearms, the most important in nearly thirty years, the boost to the production of semiconductors in the United States, and internationally, the death of the chief 'al-Qaeda,
Ayman al-Zawahiri
, killed by an American drone in Kabul.
►Also read: Death of Ayman al-Zawahiri: "Biden wanted to show that the United States is back"
Democrats sided with the American people with the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Republicans sided with special interests.
That's the choice we face: Whether we protect the already powerful or have the courage to build a future where everybody has an even shot.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 16, 2022
(and with
AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
United States