AFP

After 18 months of arduous negotiations and a marathon night of debate, the US Senate on Sunday passed Joe Biden’s ambitious climate, tax and health care plan — a significant victory for the president ahead of crucial midterm elections.

Voting as a unified bloc and with the tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats approved the $430-billion spending plan, which will go to the House of Representatives next week, where it is expected to pass before being signed into law by Biden.

The plan, crafted in sensitive talks with members on the right wing of his Democratic Party, would include the biggest US investment ever on climate — $370 billion aimed at effecting a 40 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

That would give Biden a clear victory on one of his top agenda items and go some way toward restoring US leadership in meeting the global climate challenge.

Biden hailed the passage of the bill, highlighting the work that went into it — and acknowledging that not everyone is happy with the final result.

“It required many compromises. Doing important things almost always does. The House should pass this as soon as possible and I look forward to signing it into law,” the president said in a statement.

The bill — officially known as the “Inflation Reduction Act” — passed the Senate with no Republicans voting in favor.

Conservative lawmakers have criticized the bill as wasteful spending, with top Republican Senator Mitch McConnell accusing Democrats of voting to “double down on their economic disaster.”

– ‘Change America for decades’ –

The bill would provide Americans with a tax credit of up to $7,500 when purchasing an electric car, plus a 30 percent discount when they install solar panels on their roofs.

But the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a group representing major automakers, on Sunday said that most cars would not meet the bill’s electric vehicle tax credit requirements, calling it a “missed opportunity.”

The legislation would also provide millions to help protect and conserve forests — which have been increasingly ravaged in recent years by wildfires during record heat waves that scientists say are linked to global warming.

Billions of dollars in tax credits would also go to some of the country’s worst-polluting industries to help their transition to greener methods — a measure bitterly opposed by some liberal Democrats who have, however, accepted this as a least-bad alternative after months of frustration.

Biden, who came to office with promises of sweeping reforms, has seen his hopes dashed, then revived, then dashed again. 

Democrats’ narrow edge in the Senate has given a virtual veto to moderates such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who earlier had used that power to block Biden’s much more expansive Build Back Better plan.

But in late July, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer managed to engineer a compromise with the West Virginian, whose state’s economy depends heavily on coal mining.

“This bill is gonna change America for decades,” Schumer said after its passage, while Manchin tweeted that it “will lower the inflation taxes that have been so hurtful for West Virginian and American families.”

– ‘Vote-a-rama’ –

Senators finally opened debate on the text on Saturday, with final passage not until Sunday afternoon.

Late Saturday, they began working through a marathon procedure known as a “vote-a-rama,” in which members can propose dozens of amendments and demand a vote on each one.

That allowed both Republicans, who view Biden’s plan as too costly, and liberal Democrats, who say it does not reach far enough, to make their opposition clear.

Influential progressive Senator Bernie Sanders used that platform through the evening to propose several amendments aimed at strengthening social planks in the legislation, which were considerably weakened during the months of negotiation.

The bill would provide $64 billion for health care initiatives and ensure a lowering of some drug costs — which can be 10 times more expensive in the United States than in some other rich countries.

But progressive Democrats long ago had to give up their ambitions for free preschool and community colleges and expanded health care for the elderly.

“Millions of seniors will continue to have rotten teeth and lack the dentures, hearing aids or eyeglasses that they deserve,” Sanders said from the Senate floor. “This bill, as currently written, does nothing to address it.”

But fellow Democrats, eager to pass the legislation ahead of November midterms when control of Congress is at stake, have rejected any change in the text.

To help offset the plan’s massive spending, it would reduce the US deficit through a new 15-percent minimum tax on companies with profits of $1 billion or more — a move targeting some that now pay far less.

That measure could generate more than $258 billion in tax receipts for the government over the next 10 years, by some estimates.

President Joe Biden on Sunday deplored the killings of four Muslim men in New Mexico, which police say may be linked.

“I am angered and saddened by the horrific killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque,” the US president said on Twitter. 

“While we await a full investigation, my prayers are with the victims’ families, and my Administration stands strongly with the Muslim community. These hateful attacks have no place in America.”

Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, said Saturday they are investigating the murders of three Muslim men that they now suspect are related to a fourth homicide from last year.

The Albuquerque police department said in a statement they had discovered the latest victim overnight Friday.

His body was discovered near a Lutheran Family Services office that provides assistance to refugees, TV station KOB4 reported.

Police did not identify the man but said he was in his mid-20s, Muslim and “a native from South Asia.”

“Investigators believe Friday’s murder may be connected to three recent murders of Muslim men also from South Asia,” the statement said.

Two of the previous victims were Muslim Pakistani men, a 27-year-old whose body was found on August 1 and a 41-year-old who was found on July 26.

Detectives are now investigating whether these murders are connected to the death of a Muslim man from Afghanistan who was killed on November 7, 2021, outside of the business he ran with his brother in Albuquerque, the statement said.

The police urged anyone with information to call a tip line and said the FBI was assisting with the investigation.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed outrage at the killings, calling them “wholly intolerable,” and said she was sending additional state police officers to Albuquerque to aid in the investigation.

She said she was sending additional state police officers to Albuquerque to help with the investigation.

“We will continue to do everything we can to support to the Muslim community of Albuquerque and greater New Mexico,” she said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest US Muslim civil rights group, has offered a $10,000 reward to whoever provides information leading to the killer or killers’ arrest.

Tensions have risen sharply in the city’s Muslim community.

“Now, people are beginning to panic,” Tahir Gauba, the director of public affairs with the Islamic Center of New Mexico, told the Albuquerque Journal.

Sony’s “Bullet Train,” the last major studio release of the summer, sped to solid ticket sales of $30.1 million this weekend to top the North American box office, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations estimated Sunday.

It was a “solid opening for an action thriller,” said analyst David A. Gross, adding that the presence of lead star Brad Pitt “is going to ensure international success.”

Pitt, who plays a professional assassin on a Japanese train seemingly loaded with them, heads a cast that includes Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Latin music star Bad Bunny, as well as Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in bit roles.

Helming “Bullet Train” is Pitt’s former stunt double, David Leitch, who has earned a name directing action films. 

Last weekend’s box-office leader, Warner Bros.’ animated “DC League of Super-Pets,” slipped a notch to second, taking in $11.2 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period. 

Third place went to Universal’s horror flick “Nope,” at $8.5 million. The sci-fi flick, boosted by the involvement of popular writer/director Jordan Peele, stands just shy of a $100 million gross domestically. Daniel Kaluuya stars. 

In fourth was Disney’s action comedy “Thor: Love and Thunder,” at $7.6 million. Chris Hemsworth stars as the uber-muscular space Viking, who pines for his ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman).

And in fifth was Universal’s family-friendly animation “Minions: The Rise of Gru.” This latest episode in the “Despicable Me” franchise took in $7.1 million.

Overall, the summer season has been good for Hollywood, Gross said. “Audiences have been doing everything they’ve been asked… and business has been very good for all types of films.”

Rounding out the weekend’s top 10 were:

“Top Gun: Maverick” ($7 million)

“Where the Crawdads Sing” ($5.7 million)

“Easter Sunday” ($5.3 million)

“Elvis” ($4 million)

“The Black Phone” ($1.5 million)

Former US diplomat Bill Richardson said Sunday that he was “optimistic” about efforts to negotiate a “two for two” prisoner swap with Russia that would free US basketball star Brittney Griner and another American.

Richardson, a former ambassador to the UN, has negotiated the release of several Americans held in other countries. Reports last month said he was expected to travel to Russia for talks over Griner, who on Thursday was sentenced to nine years in prison on a drug charge.

While insisting Sunday that he is only a “catalyst” in any negotiations, Richardson’s mention of a “two-for-two” swap including Griner suggested inside knowledge.

“My view is, I’m optimistic,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”

“I think she’s going to be freed, I think she has the right strategy of contrition, there’s going to be a prisoner swap — though I think it will be two for two, involving Paul Whelan.”

Whelan is a former US Marine who was convicted of espionage in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He has insisted on his innocence.

His case and Griner’s have been enmeshed in the deep US-Russia tensions since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February.

But recent comments from both sides — including from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov — have suggested signs of movement, and US President Joe Biden has faced repeated calls to arrange a deal.

Reports suggested that Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” might be freed in exchange for Griner and Whelan. The Kremlin has long sought his release. 

But Richardson’s mention of a “two for two” swap raises questions about who the second Russian in the equation might be. 

And some Americans have asked why Marc Fogel, a US citizen serving a 14-year sentence in Russia on marijuana charges — which he said he had for medicinal purposes — has not been mentioned. 

Griner was sentenced Thursday to nine years in a Russian penal colony and ordered to pay a fine of one million rubles ($16,590) for smuggling narcotics.

She was arrested at a Moscow airport for possessing vape cartridges with a small amount of cannabis oil. 

The 31-year-old, who was in Russia to play for the professional Yekaterinburg team during her off-season from the Phoenix Mercury, said the substance was prescribed by a US doctor to relieve pain.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist and Women’s NBA champion pleaded guilty but said she did not intend to break the law.

Richardson is a prominent Democrat, having served in the US Congress, as governor of New Mexico, and both as UN envoy and energy secretary in the Bill Clinton administration.

Since then, he has worked as a discreet go-between in several sensitive hostage talks with foreign countries, including North Korea. In November 2021 he helped secure the release of US journalist Danny Fenster from a prison in Myanmar.