The climate bill featured incentives to encourage the use of solar power on homes
Republicans attacked the bill, saying that it was a spending"wish list" that would hurt an economy weighed down by inflation, kill jobs, raise energy costs and undermine growth at a time when the economy is facing a potential recession.
Economists say the legislation could help the Federal Reserve battle inflation but do not expect a sizeable impact on the economy in coming months. The United States pledged to slash its greenhouse gas emissions to half their 2005 levels by 2030 at last year'sModelling by the Repeat Project at Princeton University says the bill will double the amount of new, clean electricity-generating capacity coming online by 2024.
The legislation also allows the federal Medicare health plan to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs - in the same way the NHS negotiates drug prices in the UK .