Majority Leader Schumer Remarks At The White House Celebrating The Signing Of The Inflation Reduction Act

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke at a White House event celebrating the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

This is a great and celebratory day. Thank you, Mr. President, for inviting us to the White House! Thank you to Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, and all of my great colleagues! I want to thank all of you for being here! Is New York in the House? All right! It is such a pleasure to be here!

We’re here to talk about things that matter to families: lowering costs, creating jobs, and helping them make ends meet.

What are the MAGA Republicans doing over in the Capitol today? Introducing national bans on abortion! Just unbelievable.

Now, the day President Biden took office—and Democrats assumed the majority in the Senate—I promised we would work with him to tackle the biggest challenges facing our country.

Today, we’re here to affirm that the promises Democrats made are now promises Democrats have kept. And we are going to keep going!

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress a month ago, will go down as one of the most important legislative feats in decades. 

Thanks to this bill, Americans will see their energy costs come down.

They will see drug costs go down, especially seniors on Medicare who struggle to afford insulin.

We’re going to create of millions of good paying jobs for years to come.

And we will cut emissions by 40% by the end of the decade with the boldest clean energy package in American history!

To the tens of millions of young Americans who have spent years marching, rallying, demanding that Congress act on climate change, we heard you loud and clear. To all of our friends in the environmental movement who never gave up, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Just one month into the enactment of the bill, companies like Toyota, and Honda, and LG Energy, and First Solar, and Panasonic and so many others have already announced billions—that’s billions w a “B”—to build new factories, develop new technologies, and hire new workers right here in this country.

These investment are not just going to put more people to work, they will help America stay number one in the industries of the future. When we hire more workers to build solar panels, to develop batteries, or build EVs, those jobs will stick around for decades to come.

It will make a world of difference for our economy compared to just a few decades ago, when too many jobs had a limited life here in America before being shipped overseas. But not these jobs, no; these new jobs are going to stick around for a long, long time and keep America number one in these industries which are so crucial to the future of our globe.

And to think, folks, with all the challenges we face, not a single Republican joined us to make these new investments and new jobs possible. Not one!

That’s the difference between the two parties in a nutshell: while MAGA Republicans are fixated their on extremist agenda—like a national abortion ban— Democrats are focused on creating jobs, lowering costs, and bringing the country together.

It has been a long time, frankly, since the American people have felt Washington is capable of doing big things to meet big challenges. Under former President Trump and MAGA Republicans, it was hard to blame them for feeling that way.

But the story is very different under Democratic leadership. For years, the naysayers said we could never take on the big drug companies and lower prescription drug costs, but we did and we won.

They said we could never get tough on climate change, but we got it done.

And they said we’d never close tax loopholes for the wealthy and make the rich pay their fair share.

But we got all these things done in a single bill!

All of this is the result of Democrats working together. We have a lot of work left to do to help America reach its full potential, but the past few months show that when we unite, anything is possible.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank every one of my Senate Democratic colleagues who made the Inflation Reduction Act happen. Down to the fiftieth member, they are incredible. Let’s have a round of applause for our great caucus.

In normal times, getting any one bill through the Senate is difficult…but to pass the Inflation Reduction Act with only fifty Democratic votes in the Senate, over an intransigent Republican minority, shows how dedicated and persistent our caucus is. I applaud you all.

And I applaud our great staffs who labored day and night to see this great work through. Thank you staff! Thank you staff! Thank you staff! You made it possible.

And of course, I want to thank Speaker Pelosi and every one of my House colleagues who worked to pass this bill. It’s been a long process, but the House Democratic Caucus stayed the course, worked incredibly hard, and made this moment possible. Thank you all!

And finally, I want to thank President Biden. We would never, never, have gotten the Inflation Reduction Act done without his steady hand.

For over a year and a half, he dared us to dream big, pushed us to aim high, and urged us never to let go of our promise to the American people, especially on climate. Like the rest of us, he persisted and persisted to push this bill over the finish line. He has restored dignity, respect and a sense of action back to the Oval Office.

So, thank you, President Biden for your incredible leadership! Americans are seeing what it looks like to have a President—and a Congress—that’s focused on delivering results to make their lives better.

Thank you for being here, thanks for your tremendous work. On to future victories everybody.

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