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By KIM JARRETTTHE CENTER SQUARE
(The Center Square) – A partisan bill called the “Inflation Relief Act” that is making its way through Congress will only hurt the middle class, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said Monday.
The bill passed the Senate over the weekend after Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie. No Republicans supported the measure.
Included in the $740 billion bill is a 15% minimum corporate tax and other tax increases, $30 billion in tax credits for green energy projects like solar panels and wind turbines, and other energy and health-care related expenses.
“This is all a result of way too much spending and the unrelenting war on American energy being waged by this administration and congressional Democrats, who are beholden to radical left special interest groups,” Sen. Sullivan said in a statement. “This bill is loaded with more reckless spending, billions of dollars in taxes on hard-working Americans, and, of course, the radical left’s favorite policy – an attack on the American energy sector. The Schumer-Sanders bill is going to do more harm to our economy.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said there was an absolute lack of transparency in the bill.
“The title of the Inflation Reduction Act is misleading, as early projections show it may actually add to inflation for the next several years,” Sen. Murkowski said in a statement. “It contains hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending, and hundreds of billions more in new taxes that will burden the American people and American businesses for years to come. Even floor debate – with amendment votes starting just before midnight on Saturday, and continuing through Sunday afternoon – was designed to avoid public awareness and scrutiny. While I don’t oppose everything within the bill, there is no doubt in my mind, based on both substance and process, that the Senate should not have passed it.”
The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will have very little impact on inflation.
“We estimate that the Inflation Reduction Act will produce a very small increase in inflation for the first few years, up to 0.05 percent points in 2024,” the Penn Wharton report said. “We estimate a 0.25 percentage point fall in the PCE price index by the late 2020s. These point estimates, however, are not statistically different than zero, thereby indicating a very low level of confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation.”
Penn Wharton is an economic forecasting model widely used by politically unaligned groups like the Tax Policy Center.
President Joe Biden praised the bill, singling out provisions that would cap spending on prescription drugs for seniors at $2,000 a year and establish a minimum corporate tax.
“This bill tackles inflation by lowering the deficit and lowering costs for regular families,” President Biden said in a statement.
The House is expected to take up the bill Friday. President Biden said in his statement he will sign it if it passes.
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