President Joe Biden and Democrats will take a victory lap at the White House on Tuesday, celebrating their sweeping health care, climate and tax bill that was signed into law last month.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes the largest investment in clean energy and climate change provisions in history, expanded Medicare benefits, subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and revenue-raising tax provisions.
The White House waited to hold a celebratory event — which is expected to draw thousands of people to the South Lawn — until after Congress returned to Washington from its August recess.
The IRA event will not only include members of Congress but also governors, mayors, top Biden administration officials, climate and health care advocates and union workers, the White House said.
President Biden is expected to call the bill a “major win for middle class families over rich special interests,” according to a White House official.
That includes fulfilling long-promised goals of fighting climate change and lowering costs for prescription drugs. The IRA passed with only Democratic votes this summer, through the reconciliation process.
One core objective that didn’t make it in the bill is capping the cost of insulin at $35 for all Americans, though that limit will go into effect for Medicare recipients next year.
Biden is expected to “remind” Americans that Republicans blocked the insulin initiative and also fought against the provisions in the IRA that will establish minimum corporate taxes and boost the Internal Revenue Service’s tax enforcement.
In reality, outside experts have found that the IRA’s short-term impact on inflation is minor, though it could lower energy and medicine costs in the future.
A key consumer price report released Tuesday showed year-on-year inflation at a still-high 8.3%, even with slight improvement from the previous report. Gas prices have fallen for more than three months in a row, though food and rent are still elevated.
Speaking about infrastructure in Boston Monday, Biden referenced his springtime promise to address inflation as a top economic priority.
“There’s more to do — a lot more to do,” he said. “But the American people should have confidence that we’re on the right track. We’re seeing real progress. We’ve worked to make sure our economy recovers to lower costs for families.”
The Inflation Reduction Act includes $369 billion in climate change investments, $64 billion to extend the Affordable Care Act and the potential to bring in more than $700 billion in revenue through IRS enforcement, corporate tax changes and prescription price negotiations.
Republicans have balked at the Biden administration’s celebration of the spending law this month even as prices remained at the most-elevated levels in decades, as evidenced by the new report Tuesday.
“Prices were already way up compared to the year before that. So the 12-month number dramatically understates the total damage that Democrats have caused,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
“President Biden and Democrats are having a big celebration for their latest reckless spending bill, which they pretended would reduce inflation, but which nonpartisan experts say will actually make it worse. They could not look more out of touch if they tried.”
