Jean-Pierre said, “Let’s get this bill passed and then we’ll see how the mechanics and all of that’s gonna work” as the Inflation Reduction Act is set to pass the House.
The US House is expected to pass the Inflation Reduction Act along party lines Friday as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says there's no reason to think about how the bill works after it goes into effect.
While speaking to CNN's Brianna Keilar Friday, Jean-Pierre said, "Let's get this bill passed and then we'll see how the mechanics and all of that's gonna work" as the Associated Press reports that the bill is set to pass in the narrowly divided house after making it through the Senate earlier in the week.
Jean-Pierre on Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act”: “Let’s get this bill passed and then we’ll see how the mechanics and all of that’s gonna work”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial)
Jean-Pierre's comments resemble similar statements by House Speaker Nancy Pelos in 2010 when she was speaking about the Affordable Care Act and said, "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."
The Associated Press calls the Inflation Reduction Act a "flagship Democratic economic bill" that could give President Joe Biden a "back-from-the-dead triumph" and "energize his party ahead of November’s elections."
The Inflation Reduction Act is a 755-page, $739 billion spending plan that Democrats say tackles climate change, lowers drug prices, fixes healthcare, and raises taxes on the wealthy. The bill passed the United States Senate on Sunday along party lines with Vice President Kamala Harris having to cast the tie breaking vote.
Of its, $369 billion goes to climate change initiatives and $64 billion in funding goes to the Affordable Care Act. Democrats claim the size of the bill's budget will be made up by a 15 percent corporate minimum tax.
The massive spending package raises taxes for everyone except those making between $10,000 and $30,000 per year, despite Joe Biden saying he would not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 a year. The Inflation Reduction Act will also significantly increase the size of the IRS and create positions for nearly 87,000 new IRS agents, 70,000 of whom will be armed.
Republican Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas said, "If the Green New Deal and corporate welfare had a baby, it would look like this," the AP reported and the outlet noted Brady and other GOP were "Echoing other culture war themes" because they "criticized initiatives like tax breaks for clean energy and electric vehicles as wasteful liberal daydreams."
Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi noted that the bill would only marginally reduce the Consumer Price Index, an economic gauge on the price consumers pay for goods and services, and even that slim savings won't be seen until the later half of the decade. Similarly the Congressional Budget Office stated that the Inflation Reduction Act will not lower inflation in any meaningful way in the upcoming years.
The AP wrote that "it's unclear voters will reward Democrats for the legislation after months of painfully high inflation dominating voters' attention."
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