Chocolate, nuts, energy bars, or products that fall under the “junk food” category. US senators have used all of this to stay awake and regain strength.
The representatives of the upper house of the United States Congress undertook a voting marathon on Saturday afternoon, without rest at night. Everything has concluded today, after three in the afternoon, with the tiebreaker vote of Vice President Kamala Harris (and President of the Senate) that has meant approving the Democratic plan, valued in total at more than 740,000 million dollars, on climate change , fiscal reform and improvement of health care.
"This is going to change the United States for decades," said Chuck Schumer, head of the Democratic majority in the chamber and one of the architects of the great victory for his group and for President Joe Biden.
"I think it's going to happen," said Joe Biden, who was cautious but confident when he left the White House for Rehoboth Beach (Delaware), thus concluding his second confinement due to covid, after two tests. negatives.
The lower house or 'House' plans to approve the initiative on Friday, making a parenthesis in its summer period. Biden plans to sign it immediately and profit at a time when his presidency remains unpopular and with a view to boosting the Democrats in the legislative elections next November.
Applause and hugs when Karris has announced the result. But they were all Democrats. The Republicans have disappeared from the room without waiting.
The Senate remained active, with more than 14 hours of amendments – on fuel prices, abortion, security on the southern border – in an attempt by Republicans to delay the process and crack the Democratic consensus.
The set of initiatives, which will involve an investment of 370,000 million to combat global warming and invest in clean energy, seemed to have derailed after a year of internal disputes. The refusal of two senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, made it practically unrecoverable. In a Senate divided equally between the two groups (50-50), the unruly couple left the progressives in the minority.
However, a few days ago, to the general surprise, Manchin announced his support for the project, now titled the Inflation Reduction Act, which, although it has a smaller budget than initially planned, allows one of President Biden's key initiatives to be unwound.
The more than 700 pages also include the reduction in the price of medicines and a fiscal plan that should facilitate raising 451,000 million more dollars with a minimum tax on corporations of 15%. This is one of the most significant fiscal changes that will take place in this country. The new plan implies a remodeling of the federal collection mechanisms and modifies the investment policy of the US companies with higher profits.
After the prodigal son Manchin, only Sinema's approval was missing. His approval came on Thursday to the disappointment of Conservatives.
The chamber entered session at noon on Saturday and, in the afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris had to decide the tie at 50 and eliminate the obstacle that would require 60 votes to carry out this plan. Once the route was cleared, there was still a long way to go because of a procedure called “voto-a-rama”, which began at almost midnight on Saturday. This procedure allows senators to propose an unlimited number of amendments.
Even though they knew the margin was more than slim, Republicans, enraged that a plan they left for dead had been resurrected, have sought discord. So they have taken the opportunity to raise issues that would embarrass Democratic senators who are in a vulnerable situation in order to renew their seat in three months. But progressives have remained united throughout. In the interest of sustaining the weak coalition behind this bill, quite a few Democrats have rejected proposals that they would otherwise have supported.
“It has been a long, hard and winding road – Schumer said – but we have arrived”. But the 'House' is still missing.
