Before Christmas, US President Joe Biden suffered a setback in the Senate with regard to his planned investment packages for social and climate protection. Now he is more optimistic again.
Washington – US President Joe Biden has shown himself confident that parts of the massive investment package for social affairs and climate protection that was blocked in the Senate before Christmas can still be pushed through.
Before the congressional elections in November, for example, parts for the promotion of electromobility and for energy and climate protection could be decided, said Biden in the White House. The measures would have a volume of around 500 billion US dollars (440 billion euros). The Democrat added that insider opponents of the package, such as Senator Joe Manchin, also support parts of it, such as expanding early childhood education.
Core concerns of Biden
Together with a package of investments in infrastructure that has already been decided, the social and climate protection package is one of Biden’s core concerns. Manchin, on whose vote the White House in the Senate is dependent, declared shortly before Christmas after tough negotiations that he would not support a reduced package worth around $1.75 trillion.
Measures included in the package, including clean energy investments, subsidies for electric cars and energy renovations, should greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help the US meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. This goal of Biden now seems to be in the balance.
In November, the US House of Representatives and about a third of the seats in the Senate will be re-elected. According to polls, the Democrats could lose their majority in both chambers of Congress. dpa
#Biden #push #large #social #climate #package