Deficit reduction, health care, climate in Biden's big bill

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

This is the largest investment in climate change ever made in the United States. Seniors in the Medicare program will no longer have to pay for prescription drug costs out-of-pocket. Ensure big businesses pay their fair share with a new corporate minimum tax.

It may not do much to immediately tame inflationary price hikes according to the Democrats' "Inflation Reduction Act." Its longtime party proposals will touch countless lives as it makes its way to Congress for final passage, then to the White House for the signature of President Joe Biden.

A stunning election year turnaround for Biden's health care, climate change and deficit reduction strategies, which are less robust than his initial proposals to rebuild America's public infrastructure and family support systems, is a smaller but not insignificant product brought back to political life after last year's collapse.

Here’s what’s in the estimated $740 billion package — made up of $440 billion in new spending and $300 billion toward easing deficits— that is up for final approval Friday in the House.

12 August 2022