The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 advanced in the Senate recently by a 51-50 vote, according to the U.S. Senate website.
The act has been called the Democrats’ climate change and health care bill. The bill includes $430 billion in new spending on energy, electric vehicle credits, and health insurance. It also raises minimum taxes for large companies and enforces existing tax laws.
The bill was proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) were among the 50 Democrats who voted for the bill, the Senate website noted. None of the 50 Republican senators voted for the bill. Vice President Kamala Harris’ yes vote was the tie-breaker needed to advance the legislation.
Critics claim that basic economics suggest the increased $443 billion in government spending will worsen the country’s inflation problem, contrary to what the bill’s name implies.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) voted for the bill.
“The so-called Inflation Reduction Act that we are debating this evening – and I say ‘so-called’ by the way, because according to the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] and other economic organizations that have studied this bill, it will, in fact, have a minimal impact on inflation,” Sanders said on the Senate floor Saturday, as shown in a video on YouTube.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the Inflation Reduction Act “is not going to bring down inflation and will worsen the recession,” Fox News reported. Graham added that the Democrats’ attempts to paint the bill as deficit-reducing is a gimmick.
“It says it would reduce the deficit by $100 billion; we’re going to spend almost a trillion dollars,” the senator said, according to Fox News.
Some economists said that inflation is largely tied to increased federal government spending, according to Smart Asset.
Paige Terryberry, senior analyst for fiscal policy at the John Locke Foundation, said the current bout of inflation stems from the massive injection of cash since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
