US President Joe Biden signed into law his sweeping health and climate investment plan on Tuesday, handing his Democratic camp a major political victory less than three months before a decisive midterm election.
The largest investment in the United States in the fight against climate change, the text provides for a series of financial incentives aimed at guiding the American economy towards renewable energy, limits the price of certain drugs and creates a minimum tax rate for large companies.
“It’s about the future. It’s about bringing progress and prosperity to American families,” Biden said. “This is about showing America and the American people that democracy still works in America.”
$370 billion
The result of difficult negotiations with the right-wing of the Democratic Party, the envelope includes the largest investment ever committed in the United States for the climate: 370,000 million dollars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.
The second part of this great investment plan aims to partially correct the enormous inequalities in access to care in the United States, in particular by reducing the price of medicines.
Medicare, a public health insurance aimed, among others, at those over 65 years of age, will for the first time be able to negotiate the prices of certain medications directly with pharmaceutical companies, and thus obtain more competitive prices.
To finance these investments, the reform provides for the adoption of a minimum tax rate of 15% for all companies whose profits exceed one billion dollars. This new tax aims to prevent certain large companies from taking advantage of the tax loopholes that have allowed them to pay a rate much lower than the theoretical rate until now. It is estimated that this measure could generate more than $258 billion in US federal revenue over the next ten years.
Source: BFM TV
