At Long Last

 

At long last, after a 15-hour marathon session which included hours of debate, during which senators fought back a series of Republican delaying-tactic amendments from Saturday night through Sunday afternoon, the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act has finally passed the Senate and now heads to the House, which is expected to vote on the legislation later this week. Senate Democrats were at last able to pass the measure on Sunday using "budget reconciliation," by means of which the bill passed the Senate by a simple majority with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. “This historic bill will reduce inflation, lower costs, fight climate change, and it’s time to move this nation forward,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said during the prolonged debate.

Basically a pared down version of President Biden’s original $3.5 billion Build Back Better measure, the Inflation Reduction Act will allocate a monumental $369 billion for clean energy and climate initiatives and another $64 billion to extend expiring federal subsidies for people buying health insurance, and will also provide for lowering some Medicare prescription drug prices. However, Senate Republicans unfortunately were able to eliminate a $35 cap on insulin in the private market place, a provision which did not qualify for the ridiculous requirements of "Reconciliation." (Voted on separately, it passed 57-43, and thus fell three votes short of the 60-vote threshold to overcome a Republican filibuster.)

Along with other recently successful legislation, this caps a seemingly sudden turnaround in Democratic and Administration fortunes in finally getting some important legislation passed which will improve Americans' lives in major ways, while providing the Democrats with significant legislative and policy accomplishments to campaign on this fall. Some have called last week President Biden's best week yet. It certainly signals a significant change from the downward trajectory the Administration has seemed to be suffering from since the fall of Kabul almost exactly one year ago.

Imagine if the Democrats could resist their perennial temptation to sectarian factionalism and forming a "circular firing squad" and instead would confidently campaign on their accomplishments and against the Republicans revanchist assaults on the democratic process! Imagine if they concentrated their fire on Republicans' proven unpopular policies instead of undermining their President with distracting and destructive demands that he not run for a second term.

The greatest current challenge to the survival of constitutional democratic governance in the United States comes obviously from the Republican party. That said, the growing disillusionment with constitutional democratic norms is also in significant measure a reflection of the catastrophic failure of constitutional democratic government to meet the pressing needs of this moment in our national and planetary history. This bill is one important step to reviving confidence in our ability as a society to govern ourselves by means of a functioning politics that actually can produce outcomes which improve people's present lives and contribute to the care of our common imperiled planet.