Manchin and Schumer’s Astonishing Climate Deal
Every few years, American politics astonishes you. Yesterday was one of those days.
In the late afternoon, Senator Joe Manchin announced that he had reached a compromise with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over President Joe Biden’s long-ailing legislative agenda. In a move that seemed to shock almost all of their colleagues, the two men unveiled a nearly completed bill that will reduce the federal budget deficit, reduce greenhouse-gas pollution, invest in new energy infrastructure, and lower health-care costs.
By 8:30 p.m., the complete text of a bill that nobody had known about four hours earlier had been released. The Senate is aiming to vote on it next week.
The most popular parts of the bill will likely be everything that have to do with climate change. The proposal allows Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drug prices, for instance, potentially lowering drug costs for seniors. It extends the current subsidies for Affordable Care Act insurance plans to 2025, meaning that they will stay on the books at least through the next presidential election. The, meant to keep large companies from location-shopping in order to keep their tax burden low.
