With a score of 220 to 207, the U.S. House of Representatives said yes to the new legislation that promises to change the landscape of combating climate change in the United States. Now the text, which last Sunday was also approved in a historic session in the Senate, by 51 to 50, proceeds to the signature of President Joe Biden.

The new $430 billion legislation promises to provide a billion-dollar investment in climate and energy security that is expected to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by about 40 percent by 2030 (compared to the base year 2005).

In addition to the climate profile, the Inflation Reduction Act also includes measures to reduce health costs for millions of Americans by allowing Medicare, the government's program for the elderly and disabled, to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and for its users to pay a ceiling of up to $2,000 a year,  saving $288 billion for the federal government.

One of the goals of the legislation is to reduce carbon emissions and encourage the transition to clean energy sources. Leah Stokes, a professor of climate and energy policy at the University of California who advised Democrats on the bill, said the text should boost the manufacture of solar batteries and electric vehicles and also contain the largest investment in environmental justice of all time, contributing to the goal of decarbonizing the U.S. economy by 2050.

The text allocates millions of dollars to finance climate resilience for U.S. tribal governments and Hawaiian natives, as well as $60 billion for protection measures in areas most affected by climate change. The bill also contains many tax incentives aimed at reducing the cost of electricity produced from renewable energy and encouraging more American consumers to switch to electric cars, for example.

After initially being presented in Congress as the "Build Back Better," a trillion-dollar social security plan, Democrats have tinkered a lot with legislation over the past few months and renamed it. The idea is that in addition to encouraging the green economy and reducing living costs for Americans, who are experiencing a time of high inflation by the country's standards, the new law could reduce the federal deficit by up to $300 billion over a decade and help reduce spending for the population in the long run.

Source: Um só Planeta