"The package has been hailed as the biggest climate bill in American history, and the description is more than fair. At the heart of the reconciliation package is roughly $369 billion in investments in climate and energy programs. This includes everything from tax credits for electric vehicles to methane reductions, energy-efficient home improvements to the launch of a National Climate Bank.
"It’s also a health care bill, empowering Medicare for the first time to negotiate the cost of some prescription medications with the pharmaceutical industry. It doesn’t apply to all medications, and the benefits won’t begin right away, but nevertheless, Democrats have spent years trying to get a breakthrough victory on this issue, and yesterday, they succeeded.
"What’s more, the bill includes a three-year extension on the Affordable Care Act subsidies that helped push the nation’s uninsured rate to an all-time low.
"Taken
together, this represents the biggest legislative accomplishment of
either party since the Affordable Care Act passed more than a decade
ago..." -- Steve Benen at Maddowblog on the historic nature of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, just passed by Senate Democrats. As Benen notes, this wouldn't have been possible if not for Republican "missteps" that handed the Senate over to Democrats in 2021. Nevertheless, it's a huge win for the country and for efforts to stem global climate change. Pass it on!
BONUS:
Dark Brandon is crushing it pic.twitter.com/w0L8xCzIW8
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) August 7, 2022
