Democrats achieve substantive win on climate and health bill

The House passed the big climate change and health policy reconciliation bill in a rare August Friday session, coming off of recess to get the job done. Well, some of them came off recess. The rest voted by proxy, a COVID-19 pandemic measure that allows members to avoid being in Washington, D.C., and still be able to vote.  

It’s a significant achievement, despite the best efforts of Senate Democrats Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ). Without them, the package would have been absolutely transformative. With them, it’s still very real progress.

The $369 billion the bill authorizes will fund projects that tackle drought mitigation and resilience, offering consumers tax credits for new and used electric vehicles, providing funding to rural and marginalized communities to drive additional renewable power development, and providing tax credits for more energy efficient homes and commercial buildings. According to the REPEAT Project, the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce nationwide emissions to around 41% below the peak levels seen in 2005 by 2030—a far more substantial reduction than if the legislation fails to pass.

The climate provisions would lower greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. “It doesn’t get us all the way there on its own, but it keeps us in the climate fight,” Jesse Jenkins of Princeton University’s REPEAT project told NPR last month.

And there’s stuff in it for you, should you be interested in saving money while reducing your carbon footprint and not spending as much on health care.