Congress gave final approval on Friday to legislation that would reduce the cost of prescription drugs and pour billions of dollars into the effort to slow global warming, as House Democrats overcame united Republican opposition to deliver on key components of President Biden’s domestic agenda.

With a party-line vote of 220 to 207, the House agreed to the single largest federal investment in the fight against climate change and the most substantial changes to national health care policy since the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

The legislation would inject more than $370 billion into climate and energy programmes aimed at helping the US cut greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 40 per cent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

It would also extend for three years subsidies to help people afford insurance under the Affordable Care Act, as well as fulfill along-held Democratic goal to lower the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate prices and capping recipients’ annual out-of-pocket drug costs. The package would be financed largely by tax increases, including a new tax on company stock buybacks and a 15 per cent corporate tax for wealthy companies.

New York Times News Service