{"id":2029,"date":"2022-08-12T12:39:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T16:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-lauds-inflation-reduction-act-for-tax-equity-lower-drug-and-energy-costs\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:04:53","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:04:53","slug":"merkley-lauds-inflation-reduction-act-for-tax-equity-lower-drug-and-energy-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-lauds-inflation-reduction-act-for-tax-equity-lower-drug-and-energy-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley lauds Inflation Reduction Act for tax equity, lower drug and energy costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014
\nCongreso aprobado<\/a> a sweeping, $750 billion health care, tax
\nand climate bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act this week, but the Senate
\nvote on Sunday came only after an exhausting 16-hour marathon session.<\/p>\n

Under the bizarre
\nrules of a Senate process known as “vote-a-rama,” Senators can offer
\namendments and each one requires a vote. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley called it
\na grueling and somewhat mysterious exercise.<\/p>\n

“You have
\n80-year-old Senators going clear though the night like they were in
\ncollege,” he said. “And not just through the night, but through the
\nnext day, too.”<\/p>\n

Dem\u00f3cratas del Senado
\nstayed unified through the process, with all 50 members of their caucus voting
\nin lockstep and Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaker vote in the
\nevenly divided Senate. <\/p>\n

The House took the
\nbill up Friday and passed it in a 220-207 vote, sending it on to President Joe
\nBiden’s desk to be signed into law. Senator Merkley hailed the passage of the
\nbill “a very big deal.”<\/p>\n

“It is really
\nfocused on energy costs and drug costs, and on tax equity to finally have some
\nof the biggest corporations actually pay their fair share,” he said.<\/p>\n

Senator Merkley was
\na guest on this week’s episode of Straight Talk to discuss how the bill will
\nimpact Americans and lower inflation.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to save lives”<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the most
\nsignificant parts of the bill is a change that will allow Medicare to negotiate
\nthe prices of certain expensive drugs.<\/p>\n

It only includes 10
\ndrugs beginning in 2026, but Merkley called it a good start. Every other
\ndeveloped country already negotiates prices with pharmaceutical companies, he
\nsaid, and Americans pay multiple times more for drugs than people in those
\ncountries.<\/p>\n

“The bill
\ndoesn’t go far enough, fast enough in my opinion,” he said. “I’d like
\nto see us negotiate every drug in America tomorrow. We should get the best
\nprices in America, not the worse. But, for the first time, it starts that
\nprocess. And drug prices are a big deal to people.”<\/p>\n

The bill also caps
\nout-of-pocket expenses at $2000 for people on Medicare. Some older Americans
\ncurrently have to pay ten times that amount for medications, Merkley said, and
\noften stop taking the drugs they need because they can’t afford them.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to
\nsave lives, improve the quality of life for millions of Americans, and it’s
\ngoing to put an inflation cap on those drugs in the future so we don’t see the
\nprice gouges we’ve seen in the past,” he said.<\/p>\n

Responding to drug
\ncompanies’ claims that passage of the bill was a mistake and will reverse
\nprogress on research into new treatments and medicines, Senator Merkley called
\nthe argument, “bogus.”<\/p>\n

“It’s a false story by a powerful industry…They use dark money
\ncampaigns, they use media campaigns to sustain this incredibly privileged
\nposition to rip us all off. This has to end. And this is the very beginning of
\nit ending,” he said.<\/p>\n

Climate Emergency<\/b><\/p>\n

The nearly $400
\nbillion climate portion of the package is the largest climate investment in US
\nhistory. It’s expected to have a crucial impact on reducing greenhouse gasses,
\nwith the goal of cutting U.S. emissions 40% by 2030.  <\/p>\n

It includes a host
\nof tax incentives to bring down energy costs with the use of more renewable
\nenergy and aims to get Americans to switch to electricity to power their homes
\nand cars. It also extends an electric vehicle tax credit.<\/p>\n

“It’s not as
\nstrong as we wanted it to be, again, I’d like to take it further,” Merkley
\nsaid. “But, one thing I really do like is it provides a tax credit,
\nfollowing Oregon’s example, for used electric vehicles…This will really help
\nspread the transition to electric vehicles throughout our community.”<\/p>\n

The Inflation
\nReduction Act alone won’t be enough to get to Biden’s goal of cutting emissions
\nin half by 2030, Merkley said. He has urged Biden to declare a “Climate
\nEmergency” under the National Emergency Act, which would give the
\nPresident sweeping powers to take action on things like banning US crude oil
\nexports, ending offshore drilling, and speeding up the manufacture of electric
\nvehicles.<\/p>\n

Meeting the target
\nwill also require tackling the challenge of methane and carbon dioxide in the
\nair, he said, and America has to set an example in that effort.<\/p>\n

“We can’t lead
\nthe world without the power of our example,” he said. “So, the power
\nof our example is we use not only this law, we also we use all the powers of
\nthe executive branch.”<\/p>\n

$300 billion deficit reduction<\/b><\/p>\n

The bill also closes
\nsome tax loopholes and adds a 1% excise tax on certain corporate stock
\nbuybacks. Merkley said the bill will cut the deficit by $300 billion.<\/p>\n

“So we raised
\nmore money than we are spending by a significant factor… We are doing good
\nprograms that take on real issues and it cuts the deficit,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Merkley tambi\u00e9n
\ndiscussed funding for community projects across Oregon, Democrats’ prospects in
\nthe upcoming midterm election and his push for filibuster reform in the Senate.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Congress passed a sweeping, $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act this week, but the Senate vote on Sunday came only after an exhausting 16-hour marathon session. 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