“In the coming weeks, the President will host a Cabinet meeting focused on implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, travel across the country to highlight how the bill will help the American people, and host an event on the celebration of the passage of the bill at the White House on September 6,” according to a statement from the White House. The Inflation Reduction Act completes several key items on Biden’s legislative agenda, representing the largest climate investment in American history and making major changes to health policy, giving Medicare the power for the first time to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs and extending health care subsidies that expire For three years. The legislation would reduce the deficit, be paid for through new taxes — including a 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations and a 1 percent tax on stock buybacks — and strengthen the Internal Revenue Service’s collection capacity. It would raise more than $700 billion in government revenue over 10 years and spend more than $430 billion to reduce carbon emissions and expand health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and use the remaining new revenue to deficit reduction. Senate Democrats have long hoped to pass a signature legislative package that would incorporate important agenda items for the party, but have struggled for months to come up with a deal that won the full support of their caucus. West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — a major holdover for much of Biden’s tenure — played a key role in the legislation, agreeing to a deal announced late last month. The bill passed the Senate earlier this month after 16 hours of amendment votes — known as a vote-a-rama — and the House of Representatives approved the bill along party lines last Friday. The bill to be signed by Biden on Tuesday does not include many provisions previously proposed as part of the President’s plan, such as paid family and sick leave, universal preschool, an extension of the enhanced child tax credit, as well as provisions for reduce the cost of college. The key legislative victory comes as the White House plans a major speech for Biden after Labor Day, which is being billed as a tough start to the midterm campaign. Aides are preparing a speech in which the President will tout tangible, much-discussed victories such as lower prescription drug costs and gun restrictions while hammering Republicans as extremists in the pocket of special interests. Democrats are fighting to keep their narrow majority in Congress. And it’s not entirely clear whether voters’ perceptions of the President or his party will improve in the fall after a summer of dismal polls. A CNN poll released in late July, for example, found that 75 percent of Democratic voters want their party to nominate someone other than Biden for president in 2024. Now, the White House is aiming to make the most of a string of victories — including passage of the Deflation Act — as part of a rush to restore its image ahead of the November election. CNN’s Donald Judd, Alex Rogers, Clare Foran, Ali Zaslav, Manu Raju and Edward-Isaac Dovere contributed to this report.
