The one-time Build Back Better legislation, now billed as the Inflation Reduction Act, appears to be on the verge of passage.
The 725-page legislation, according to a fact sheet released by the office of Majority Leader Charles Schumer, would empower Medicare drug price negotiations and extend federal premium subsidies under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The centerpiece of the legislation calls for reducing green house gas emissions in the U.S. by 40% in the next seven years, while also extending tax credits for the purchase of electric cars.
Reduced from the big Build Back Better bill, which started out last year with a $3.5 trillion price tag, the new legislation is expected to cost around $500 billion.
The cost differences between the two bills are due to a number of initiatives originally proposed in the Build Back Better legislation that have since been discarded.
One of the biggest priorities left behind is a proposal to spend upwards of $25 billion on the building or upgrading of affordable housing across the country. That proposal would have also provided $65 billion to tackle a backlog of public housing capital repairs.
Chances for passage of the new legislation substantially improved with the stated public support of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who had earlier opposed the Build Back Better bill, as well as Arizona Senate Krysten Sinema.
Sinema had earlier said she was opposed to one part of the new legislation that would close a tax loophole allowing interest to be taxed as a capital gain, rather than income. That provision, according to late-breaking reports, may have since been altered.
In a statement, Sinema additionally noted that she had helped to secure changes in the bill that will “protect advanced manufacturing and boost our clean energy economy.”
Various groups have been lining up to support or oppose the bill, which is most likely the last major piece of legislation that will be tackled by Congress before the November elections.
Liz Schuler, president of the ALF-CIO, characterized the legislation as offering “real help for working families.”
Proposing changes in the nation’s tax code, Schuler continued, “will deliver fundamental economic change in our nation.”
In a statement, Jerry Kontner, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, said the bill contains changes to the taxation of real estate that will “raise housing costs for millions of consumers while doing very little to provide meaningful energy savings.”
By Garry Boulard
