Even President Joe Biden has moments of clarity, and he admitted to a glaring misstatement while attending a campaign fundraiser in Utah this week. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) had precious little to do with reining in inflation.
Speaking in Park City, Biden revealed he regretted describing the act as focused on inflation reduction. “It has less to do with inflation than it does providing alternatives to economic growth.”
He asserted that negotiating medical prices, a small facet of the IRA, is a way to combat inflation. That aspect, however, is but a miniscule part of the extravagant package.
Biden, who knows he will be hit hard on next year’s campaign trail for the waste of taxpayer funds, sought to backtrack from earlier claims.
Biden last year:
The Inflation Reduction Act “is the strongest bill you can pass to lower inflation”
Biden now: “it has less to do with inflation” pic.twitter.com/oGwOBVx5Bg
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) August 10, 2023
The IRA, instead of aggressively addressing runaway costs for Americans, is an expensive boondoggle wrapped up as a gift for environmental radicals.
His recent statements are a far cry from his words just last year. Biden then claimed the IRA “is the strongest bill you can pass. It will lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis and promote energy security.”
When Biden touted those claims the nation was gripped by the highest inflation rate in four decades. And the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) quickly poured cold water on the idea that the IRA would cure the soaring cost of living.
The nonpartisan CBO declared the bill would create a “negligible” impact on 2022 inflation. As for 2023, its results would vary between reducing inflation by 0.1% or actually increasing it by 0.1%.
That’s practically nothing for a bill that ultimately will cost some $2.2 trillion. Instead of addressing what taxpayers needed, it was loaded with pet projects aimed at climate alarmists and other left-wing radicals.
So, why did Biden tout it as a cure for higher prices?
The simple truth is that selling a $2.2 trillion climate change package in the middle of a financial meltdown was unthinkable. It had to be marketed as a tool to provide relief to struggling Americans, even when it accomplished no such thing.
And now, a year later, Biden got around to telling the truth. Tackling inflation had little to nothing to do with the Inflation Reduction Act. It was merely a play on words to pull the wool over the people’s eyes and get them behind the Democrats’ scheme.
