If Congress passed the reconciliation measure introduced on Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, President Joe Biden had lofty forecasts for the economy.
“This is the package you can pass to lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce healthcare costs, fight the climate change, and promote energy security,” Biden said in a statement to Congress.
“All of this while lessening the burdens facing working class and middle class people.”
Therefore, he said, “Pass it, pass it for the American people, pass it for America.”
He described the package as “a significant thing” and listed some of the elements, which included a combination of healthcare cost-saving measures, green energy efforts, revisions to the tax law, and a push for deficit reduction.
According to Biden, “This deal will cut the federal deficit by nearly $300 billion.”
Therefore, he said, “Pass it, pass it for the American people, pass it for America.”
He described the package as “a significant thing” and listed some of the elements, which included a combination of healthcare cost-saving measures, green energy efforts, revisions to the tax law, and a push for deficit reduction.
According to Biden, “This deal will cut the federal deficit by nearly $300 billion.”
We’ve come a long way, but some of you will see a lot of similarities between the Build Back Better initiative and it, joked Biden.
Manchin was responsible for killing the House-passed Build Back Better bill, which had similar healthcare and environmental provisions but also lower childcare costs.
Manchin and Schumer revealed the agreement on Wednesday, following the Senate’s passage of the CHIPS bill, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had threatened to hold hostage if Democrats tried to pass another reconciliation package.
In reference to the dropped childcare provisions, Biden stated, “I know the compromise on the inflation bill doesn’t include everything I’ve been pushing for since I got into office.”
This bill is far from perfect; however, progress is frequently achieved through compromises.
It was renamed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 rather than some derivative of Build Back Better.
In his remarks in the State Dining Room, Biden insisted that ‘experts – even some experts who have criticised my administration in the past – agree that this bill, this bill will reduce inflationary pressures on the economy.
The president stated that it would lower healthcare and energy expenses for Americans.
He declared, “It’s a bill that will lower the deficit while lowering inflation and your cost of living.”
As Manchin had indicated, the only elements in any reconciliation bill that would affect Obamacare subsidies and prescription medication prices were those.
Both of those clauses and clauses addressing climate change were included in the compromise.
The bill’s green features were highlighted by Biden, who also mentioned that it had the support of prominent climate activists including former Vice President Al Gore.
By giving working families tax credits, it reduces family energy costs by hundreds of dollars, according to Biden.
“It invests $369 billion to ensure our energy future and solve the climate catastrophe.”
He said, “It provides incentives for people to purchase new, energy-efficient appliances, weatherize their homes, and tax credits for heat pumps and rooftop solar.”
Additionally, it offers buyers of new or used electric or fuel cell vehicles a tax credit of up to $7,500 if the cars were produced in the United States.
The bill to address climate change was dubbed “the most consequential legislation in history” by Biden.
The president emphasised how the proposed legislation would institute a 15 percent corporate minimum tax.
The Vice President of the United States said, “Now I know you’ve never heard me say this before – it will come as a shock to you – but 55 of the Fortune 500 corporations paid no federal income tax in 2020.” You haven’t heard me say that more than 10,000 times.
Guess what, this bill puts an end to that, said Biden. “They must pay a minimum of 15%,” was the statement.
According to Biden, the legislation upheld his campaign promise to not raise taxes on any American who earned less than $400,000 a year.
‘Now look, I know it can be sometimes seem like nothing gets done in Washington – I know it never crossed any of your minds.
The work of the government can be slow and frustrating and sometimes even infuriating,’ Biden said.
‘Then the hard work of hours and days and months from people who refused to give up pays off – history is made, lives our changed.’
Biden then switched gears and talked about the CHIPS semiconductors bill, which still needs to get passed by the House of Representatives.
‘My plea is put politics aside, get it done,’ he encouraged House members.
Bidne also insisted the U.S. economy is on track after the Commerce Department said Thursday that the gross domestic product shrank for a second quarter in a row, which is typically the definition of a recession.
‘That doesn’t sound like a recession to me,’ Biden said Thursday afternoon in the State Dining Room, pointing to a ‘record job market’ and ‘record unemployment.’
Biden noted that ‘both Chairman Powell and many of the significant banking personnel and economists say we’re not in a recession.’
‘Businesses are investing in American in record rates,’ Biden boasted.