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President Joe Biden celebrated his climate change and drug pricing law, The Inflation Reduction Act, on Tuesday on the White House lawn, to highlight Democrats’ commitment to progressive priorities even as high consumer prices continue to bite.
Biden signed the $430 billion bill, seen as the biggest climate change package in U.S. history, into law last month.
The Tuesday event on the White House South Lawn will bring together hundreds of CEOs, lawmakers, activists, and interest groups who supported the law, and give Biden an opportunity to tout drug price caps, electric vehicle grants, and a minimum corporate tax, key issues for his political base.
However, the event coincided with the release of Labor Department figures that showed an August rise in U.S. consumer prices, as rent and food continued to climb. The economy continues to be the biggest issue for voters ahead of the November midterm elections, posing risks for Democrats trying to maintain control of Congress.
“It will take more time and resolve to bring inflation down, which is why we passed the Inflation Reduction Act to lower the cost of healthcare, prescription drugs, and energy,” Biden said in a statement.
Rating agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings told Reuters last month they expect the bill to cut inflation, but only slightly and over the medium to long term, not this year.
Political issue
The president will use the event to take aim at Republicans, who didn’t support the bill. Biden will say his opponents “unanimously opposed lowering costs for the American people,” the White House said in a preview of his remarks.
Republicans suggest the legislation will lead to higher energy prices and aggressive audits from the Internal Revenue Service.
In addition to providing incentives for the clean energy industry, the law allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the elderly, seeks to everyone pays their taxes through a massively beefed-up IRS, and aims to combat inflation by reducing the federal deficit.
Copyright 2022 Thomson/Reuters