Republican Lawmakers Criticize ‘Inflation Reduction’ Spending Package From Democrats

Mimi Nguyen LyJuly 28, 2022

‘Build Back Broke is going to bankrupt America,’ Sen. Blackburn said.

Hours after Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced late on July 27 that a deal has been reached over a spending package they say would help reduce inflation, some Republican lawmakers heavily criticized the measure, saying the bill would accomplish the opposite and make matters even worse.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said the measure would only kill jobs by raising taxes.

“Democrats have already crushed American families with historic inflation. Now they want to pile on giant tax hikes that will hammer workers and kill many thousands of American jobs,” he wrote on Twitter. “First they killed your family’s budget. Now they want to kill your job too.”

The measure, cited as the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” (pdf) seeks to spend some $433 billion—about $369 billion toward energy and climate programs over the next 10 years, and $64 billion toward extending federal subsidies for three more years for some people buying private health insurance.

It also seeks to generate an estimated $739 billion in new revenue over the next 10 years. A large portion of the money—an estimated $313 billion—is expected to be generated by increasing the corporate minimum tax to 15 percent. The remaining amounts include $288 billion in prescription drug pricing reform; $124 billion in Internal Revenue Service tax enforcement; and $14 billion in closing the carried interest loophole.

This would leave over $300 billion to reduce federal deficits over the next 10 years to fight inflation, although the government is expected to accrue trillions in cumulative deficits in the same period of time.

The deal was announced amid news that the U.S. economy shrank for a second quarter by 0.9 percent, raising fears that the economy is already in a recession.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn