Biden advances his bill to reduce inflation

President Joe Biden said his administration’s proposed Inflation Reduction Act would make the largest investment in clean energy, guaranteeing a recovery in the growth of the U.S. economy, and urged the Senate to approve the bill.

On Thursday, the president remotely participated in a roundtable discussion in which he spoke about the administration’s initiative to the heads of General Motors, Cummins, Kaiser Permanente and the leaders of the American Federation of Labor/Congress of Manufacturing Unions.

According to Biden, the bill would help lower inflation, reduce the budget deficit, address climate change and reduce health care costs. Biden called his administration’s initiative “the biggest investment in clean energy, America’s energy security… and in American manufacturing.”

“This is what our economy needs now for stronger sustainable growth in the years ahead. With these investments… we will accelerate the recovery and ensure that the manufacturing, innovation and new jobs associated with this bill are in America,” Biden said.

The president asked Congress to make sense of the numbers, listen to the public and support the bill.

“Listen to the American people. This is the most impactful bill you can pass to reduce inflation, further reduce the deficit and health care spending, combat the climate crisis and ensure America’s energy security,” Biden said.

Many U.S. economists agree that the plan could reduce inflation slightly over the long term and improve the fiscal outlook for the federal budget.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that implementing the law would reduce the budget deficit by $305 billion over the next decade, but the figure could be even higher. According to the Treasury Department, expanding the IRS’s authority would help raise an additional $400 billion for the budget.

The nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Foundation estimates that deficit reduction over the next 20 years could be as much as $1.9 trillion through lower prescription drug prices.

But Republicans in Congress believe the administration’s initiative could hurt the economy. Opponents of the law warn of rising energy costs and that prescription drug price caps would reduce the amount of medical drugs available for sale.

“This bill will hit manufacturing,” Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho said Wednesday. – The bottom line is that this tax is dangerous for America.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the bill is “a checklist of tax increases and budget waste on green projects.”

Republicans also point out that imposing a minimum corporate tax of 15 percent would be a violation of Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000. As evidence, they cite calculations by the Joint Tax Committee of Congress that some of the cost to companies of imposing the tax would be passed on to workers in the form of lower wages.

Joe Biden asked participants at today’s roundtable what effect the new law could have on their businesses.

Jennifer Rumsey, CEO of Cummins, maker of engines and power generation products, told the president that the bill would be “good for the economy and the environment.”

“We need the right policies,” she said. – “And many of those market-based incentives that we think are needed are included in the Inflation Reduction Act.”