The U.S. Senate has begun the vote to hold debate on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the landmark $430 billion bill that will reduce inflation, address climate change, allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on drugs, and ensure that corporations and wealthy Americans pay their fair share of taxes.
The vote for the motion to proceed is in progress, the vote so far is 50:50 along party lines. This will be followed by 20 hours of debate, a limitless vote-a-rama of amendment votes, then …
Does anyone here know whether all this will happen tonight and/or tomorrow? Sounds like it will go on all night and may continue until Monday.
Earlier today, the Senate Parliamentarian signed off on the key provisions of the bill, so that it can be passed under reconciliation procedures with a majority vote.
The Parliamentarian gave the green light for the Medicare negotiation provisions of the bill ...
… but with one caveat. According to www.cbsnews.com/… -
Elizabeth MacDonough, the chamber's nonpartisan rules arbiter, said lawmakers must remove language imposing hefty penalties on drugmakers that boost their prices beyond inflation in the private insurance market.
Other major provisions were left intact, including giving Medicare the power to negotiate what it pays for pharmaceuticals for its 64 million elderly recipients, a longtime goal for Democrats. Penalties on manufacturers for exceeding inflation would apply to drugs sold to Medicare, and there is a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on drug costs and free vaccines for Medicare beneficiaries.
There is a lot to like about the bill, even though it does not contain enough funding for everything we like. Let’s make sure the electorate understands what the bill will do for them and for the country.
Live video from Senate floor on YouTube.
As for us, let’s keep our focus on the future, let’s give the bill and Democrats our full-throated support and let’s keep educating the electorate on how Democrats make while Republicans break the country, the economy and the world. We need to win the House and the Senate this November; lot more can done after that. If we lose, there may be no second chance for our Democracy.
Let’s stay united, let us be the wind behind the sails of Democracy. Let’s work to make Lawrence Tribe’s prediction come true —