FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Two years on, the Biden-Harris administration’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act has been “devastating” for Americans who rely on the pharmaceutical industry, according to a memo from a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
“The American people have been forced to live with the disaster of the Inflation Reduction Act for the past two years, and it’s a burden of legislation that has only worsened with time,” Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, told The Daily Signal.
“The Inflation Reduction Act has failed its name and has instead tripled in cost; it has given green tax credits to CCP-aligned companies, and has devastated the pharmaceutical industry by increasing drug prices,” Chapman said in an email, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Repealing the Inflation Reduction Act should be a top priority for Congress. The American people don’t deserve to foot the bill for this progressive wish-list legislation,” he added.
Democrats in the House and Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022 without a single Republican vote. President Joe Biden said the measure would lower inflation as well as fight climate change, but the opposite has been true, Advancing American Freedom argues.
Founded by Pence in 2021, Advancing American Freedom is a conservative think tank dedicated to promoting the policies of the Trump-Pence administration, according to the organization’s website.
Pence, who dropped out of this year’s Republican primary race for president, has said he will not endorse Donald Trump in his bid for a second term because of their well-known differences after the pair’s loss in the 2020 election. However, he continues to tout the successful policies of the Trump-Pence administration from 2017 to 2021.
Advancing American Freedom argues that the Inflation Reduction Act serves the Chinese Communist Party more than the American people. For example, the law provides subsidies via green tax credits to CCP-aligned companies such as Gotion Inc.
The cost of the Inflation Reduction Act has almost tripled from the Congressional Budget Office’s original predictions, Pence’s think tank argues. The CBO predicted the law would cost $391 billion over 10 years; now, the investment banking company Goldman Sachs predicts it will cost closer to $1 trillion over 10 years.
Medicare premiums for Part D prescription drug plans rose by over 20% because of the new law, Advancing American Freedom argues. And for 8 million Medicare users, premiums increased by more than 25% so far this year, it says.
Plan options also decreased for elderly Americans as a result of the law, Chapman’s organization says.
The Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, allows the government to set prices for certain drugs. If pharmaceutical companies refuse to comply with government price setting, they could be required to pay up to a 95% tax on the gross sale of new drugs, Advancing American Freedom argues.
“The Biden-Harris IRA is undermining the American people’s way of life and should be repealed by the next unified conservative government,” the organization says. “If spending money that we do not have tamed inflation and fixed the alleged climate crisis, maybe the Biden-Harris IRA would have had a chance to succeed.”
John Podesta, Biden’s senior adviser for clean energy innovation, gave a speech Tuesday defending the Inflation Reduction Act on its second anniversary.
“That law makes the largest investment in climate and clean energy in not only the history of America … but the history of the world,” Podesta said.
