The most important political agreement of the year in the United States was reached earlier this week in a windowless room in the basement of Congress. The New York Times reported on Friday. It saved some of the climate agreement that President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party have fought for.
It was reached during a meeting in the basement of Congress between the Democratic majority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, and his previously recalcitrant party colleague Joe Manchin. In the strictest secrecy. Because Manchin probably holds the decisive seat in the Senate, where 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans have been elected. In the event of a tie, Vice President Kamala Harris casts the deciding vote.
The agreement seemed to be dead when Manchin, who was elected in the coal state of West Virginia, once again refused to vote for a climate agreement earlier this summer. At the time, he referred to the fact that it would push up inflation.
It made him extremely unpopular among Democrats, who were met with insults. That is why it was a very big surprise when he announced on Wednesday that he now supports the agreement.
Green shares benefit from the agreement
The significance of the agreement was also clearly felt in Denmark. On Thursday, shares in the wind turbine manufacturer Vestas rose by almost 16 percent. The agreement opens the US market for wind energy.
It is a significantly smaller agreement than the one Biden originally hoped for. And it has been renamed the "Inflation Reduction Act". In other words, a law that is supposed to bring down the very high inflation in the US of over nine percent. But it could have a major impact on the Democrats in the midterm elections in November. Here the party is in danger of losing its majority.
It is still the climate part of the "Inflation Reduction Act" that is the heaviest. The agreement contains $430 billion in new spending on renewable energy, electric cars and tax breaks. It provides support for health insurance under Obamacare, and it is aimed at regulating the galloping prices of prescription drugs.
This is offset by new taxes worth an estimated $470 billion, according to the New York Times.
Schumer says he expects the Senate to vote on the agreement next week. From here it goes to a vote in the House of Representatives.
- To lower the prices of prescription drugs, to tackle the climate crisis quickly and decisively, and to ensure that the wealthiest companies and citizens pay their fair share of taxes, he says.
Ritzau
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