Senate Passes Democrats’ Health and Climate Bill

The Senate voted Sunday afternoon to pass the Democrats’ sweeping health care and climate bill in a 51–50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

The estimated $740 billion package will go to the House now.

“It’s been a long, tough and winding road, but at last, at last we have arrived,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday. “The Senate is making history. I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative measures of the 21st century.”

Senators engaged in a round-the-clock marathon of voting that began Saturday and stretched late into Sunday afternoon. Democrats voted against some three dozen Republican amendments designed to torpedo the legislation.

The bill ran into trouble midday over objections to the new 15 percent corporate minimum tax that private equity firms and other industries disliked, forcing last-minute changes.

“It will close tax loopholes and it will reduce and reduce the deficit,” Schumer claimed. “It will help every citizen in this country and make America a much better place.”

But concerns over objections to the new 15 percent corporate minimum tax on private equity firms and other industries threatened to slow the progress.

Sen. John Thune, of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican, was working on an amendment that would strip the tax for certain sectors. He was trying to draw support from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), two holdouts who have bucked their party before.

Thune predicted several more hours of negotiations and debate. “Hopefully we’ll have a solution to land the plane,” he told reporters at the Capitol.

Republicans said the measure would undermine an economy that policymakers are struggling to keep from plummeting into recession. They said the bill’s business taxes would hurt job creation and force prices skyward, making it

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