Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Remarkable Impact Of The Inflation Reduction Act Ahead Of The One Year Anniversary

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the Inflation Reduction Act as the one year anniversary approaches. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Inflation Reduction Act, known as the IRA, was one of the most consequential pieces of legislation passed in decades, and in just one year it’s already paying huge dividends for the American people, for our economy, and for our environment.

Since we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, costs are down for families.

For the first time ever, we made it possible for Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. Vaccines are free for Medicare beneficiaries. A cap on out-of-pocket drug spending for seniors is just a few months away. No one will pay more than $2,000 a year for expensive drugs that they need to save their lives.

And of course, after a lot of hard work, we also capped the price of insulin for seniors on Medicare to $35 dollars, only $35, a month. Since then, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have also lowered insulin costs for everybody, and we hope to build on all this work with additional legislation later this year. Every American deserves to have affordable insulin, not just those on Medicare. And let’s not forget the patents for insulin expired a long time ago. It was invented in 1921 or 1922, I believe it was, by a Canadian inventor who sold the patent for only $1. So there’s no need to have insulin at the exorbitant high price it is for those not on Medicare.

The Inflation Reduction Act has also helped countless Americans manage their energy costs. The tax credits and rebates on energy efficiency are helping Americans keep their homes warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, all at a more affordable price, while at the same time reducing our carbon emissions.

And a few weeks ago, we saw that inflation slowed down to just 3% – the lowest it’s been in over two years. In fact, since we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, inflation has been cut by more than half on an annual basis. And wage growth is still continuing to grow, it’s now significantly above inflation, meaning workers are taking home more while spending less. That’s the emblem of an economy that America needs.

And of course, the IRA is paving the way for millions, millions of new, good-paying, green jobs.

The IRA produced a boom in clean energy investment, with nearly 80 new clean energy manufacturing facilities announced across the country.

So when you put it all together, the Inflation Reduction Act is a shining example of the Democratic agenda in action: lower costs for families, higher wages for workers, and millions, millions of new good-paying jobs for years to come. Democrats are proud of the progress we’ve made in implementing our agenda, and we will keep working until every American feels the benefits.

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