Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Historic Progress Made Since Senate Democrats Passed The Inflation Reduction Act

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on how the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Senate Democrats last year has benefited American families, the economy, and our climate. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

When we passed the Inflation Reduction Act last year, I said here on the floor that it would endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the twenty-first century.

And just one year later, the IRA is paying huge dividends for the American people, for our economy, and for our environment.

Republicans claimed the IRA would make inflation worse. One of our Republican colleagues claimed the IRA would “cut jobs” and “fuel inflation.”

But, since we passed the IRA, inflation has gone not up but down. We are lowering costs day by day for the American people with the passage of this legislation. Inflation is now half of what it was a few [months] ago. Across the board, costs are coming down for the American family. For the first time ever, we made it possible for Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, helping Americans save at the pharmacy.

Because of the IRA, vaccines are free for Medicare beneficiaries, and a cap on out-of-pocket drug spending – no senior will pay more than $2,000 a year for drugs – is coming very soon. What a relief for people, lowering costs on one of the things that bothered them most: the high cost of prescription drugs. That's what we Democrats are doing, while over there in the House the Republicans are just racing to the bottom.

We also capped the price of insulin for seniors on Medicare to $35 a month, spurring major companies like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to follow suit. And millions of people who buy their health insurance on the ACA exchanges are now savings hundreds, hundreds of dollars each month. Indeed, we are lowering costs. That’s what we promised to do.

On top of all these savings, I also said the Inflation Reduction Act would kick-start the era of affordable clean energy, and create countless good-paying, green jobs. The Inflation Reduction Act has done just that too.

From the new wind turbine facilities in New York to solar facilities in Arizona, the IRA is paving the way for America to lead in clean energy manufacturing. 80 new clean energy manufacturing facilities have been announced across the county, employing thousands and thousands of people. Not just in junky low-wage jobs, but in good, high-pay, high-skill jobs, with training to boot.

Again, these new facilities mean even more new good-paying jobs for years to come - in construction, in manufacturing, in clean energy, and so much more.

And as the new jobs are being created, wage growth continues to go up: it’s now exceeding inflation. So, the amount brought home in your paycheck has gone up more than the cost of goods has gone up. That's a new thing. And the policies that we have passed here in the Senate, that Democrats passed here in the Senate frankly, are making a huge difference.

And, of course, we’re still only getting started. As we continue implementing the IRA, the American people will see more evidence of the Democratic agenda working for them.

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