Biden signs a historic climate bill. So what will it actually do?
On Tuesday afternoon, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, among the most significant legislative achievements of his presidency. It represents a historic investment in measures aimed at combating climate change, lowering the cost of some prescription drugs, and raising enough revenues to cut the deficit rather than adding to it. The bill is a slimmed-down version of last year’s failed $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill, which would have significantly expanded the social safety net and made even bigger investments in climate and clean energy initiatives.
According to a summary by Senate Democrats, the bill will invest $437 billion over the next decade, nearly 85% of which go to climate and energy security provisions. To pay for them, it will raise an estimated $737 billion in
