Senate Democrats have an opportunity to head into their monthlong recess riding the momentum that comes with passing a piece of legislation comprised of several key priorities.

The Inflation Reduction Act — introduced by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic Leader from New York after several days of clandestine negotiations — would make historic investments in climate justice, extend a series of Affordable Care Act tax credits beyond President Joe Biden’s first term in office, empower Medicare to negotiate prices on a handful of expensive prescription drugs for seniors and close loopholes so wealthy individuals and corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

If passed, the IRA would be the latest feather for President Biden in a cap that also includes a recently passed competitiveness bill that invests billions into the US semiconductor industry to make consumer electronics cheaper plus a veterans health care bill that’s expected to pass this week and is of personal importance since he’s the father of a late veteran. Add this to the almost-$2-trillion COVID rescue plan, the $1.2-plus-trillion infrastructure law, a new gun safety law, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women’s Act, postal reform and the confirmation of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court (along with over 70 more lower-court judges), the president has a list of achievements that rivals most of his predecessors at this point in their terms.

And unlike other priorities like voting rights, police accountability and immigration reform, Senate rules prevent Republicans from blocking the IRA from passage if all 50 Democrats stick together. 

But the IRA is a fraction of the sweeping Build Back Better Act that passed the House late last year before Manchin went on Fox News to announce his opposition to it rendering it dead on arrival.

Chief among the most popular provisions were a series of economic investments in child care, universal pre-K and the expanded Child Tax Credit, which provided monthly automatic direct deposits of $250 or $300 per child for six months last year through the American Rescue Plan that President Biden signed into law in March 2021.

“[The Child Tax Credit] represented an unprecedented direct cash intervention and an unprecedented benefit for family. We saw the child poverty rate fall by at least 30 percent during the months that the program was in place,” Zach Tilly, policy associate at the Children’s Defense Fund, said to Supercreator. “And we know from qualitative data that that benefit was extremely effective at relieving household stress, helping families meet their basic needs to reduce food insecurity, helping families have more flexibility to invest in things like education and after-school programs and child care.”