

And Republicans had promised to block that bill as long as Democrats were still trying to pass a different, broader partisan bill, like this one on climate and taxes. The agreement was made public just a few hours after the Senate passed a critical semiconductor bill yesterday. Yeah, there are pressures from Democrats, but there are also pressures from Republicans who tried to derail any last-ditch moves like this. SNELL: Well, there are a lot of competing pressures on Manchin and Schumer. But what they did end up with here is much more than most Democrats expected.įADEL: And these talks - they started. SNELL: You know, this is really a far cry from that trillions of dollars they once hoped to spend, and that included child care and education. They were forced to dramatically scale back their ambitions to focus on only the Affordable Care Act and lowering prescription drug prices after they spent all of that time trying to get a more ambitious deal.

Now, all of this is a really big shift for Democrats. That's all in addition to already-announced plans to allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs. Plus, there's expanded IRS enforcement and tax changes for carried interest. SNELL: Well, primarily, it's through a 15% corporate minimum tax that they say would raise about $313 billion. Now, that deficit reduction is really critical here because it is the key to getting Manchin on board after he blocked many other proposals over what he said were fears that more federal spending could stoke already-record-breaking inflation in the country.įADEL: So how do they plan to cut the deficit? They're pairing all of that with more than $300 billion in deficit reduction. There's also $65 billion to extend elements of the Affordable Care Act through 2025.

SNELL: So the biggest items include nearly $370 billion for energy security and climate change programs over the next 10 years. Hi, Kelsey.įADEL: OK, so what exactly is in this bill? But in order for the bill to pass, it needs unanimous support among Senate Democrats.įADEL: NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell has been following this legislation, and she joins me now. President Biden says he supports the plan. The Democrats' plan is to vote on the entire package next week, ahead of an annual month-long break in August. A breakthrough - after over a year of talks, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have finally reached a deal on an energy and health care bill that's also aimed at addressing inflation.
