A year and a half after President Joe Biden took office, the US Senate passed its multi-billion dollar climate and social package. The package, which provides around $370 billion (around €363 billion) for energy security and climate protection and $64 billion for health care, was passed with the votes of the democracies on Sunday. The approval is a major achievement for Biden, who has so far failed to deliver the major reforms he promised when he took office.
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The vote on the reform package, which Biden says will bring “groundbreaking changes for working families”, was made possible because the Democrats surprisingly reached an internal party agreement at the end of July. Conservative wing Senator Joe Manchin has given up his opposition to a significantly scaled-down version of last year’s reform package.
Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who blocked the package with Manchin last year, announced her support for the new law a few days ago.
This was extremely important, since the Democrats could not afford a single dissenter given the wafer-thin majority in the Senate. “The road has been long, difficult, and winding,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before the vote.
After Senate approval, the bill goes back to the House of Representatives next week, where Democrats hold a narrow majority. A few months before the congressional midterm elections in November, passing the law, even in its slimmed down version, would be a great success for the president and his party.
Republicans also heavily criticize the new package. “We will do what we can to prevent this legislation,” Republican Sen. John Thune said Friday. But Republicans’ options are limited as long as there are no dissenters within the Democrats.
