[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 133 (Saturday, August 6, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4059-S4060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    INFLATION REDUCTION ACT OF 2022

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I go back home to Washington State 
every week, and I talk to young people in Seattle who are urgently 
calling for bold climate action. I talk to families in Yakima County 
who are deeply concerned by a wildfire season that gets worse every 
year and parents in Vancouver who are trying to figure out how they can 
afford their kids' medication and make ends meet.
  This summer has broken records in Washington State and not in a good 
way. Energy prices and temperatures have both spiked. People from 
Seattle to Spokane are feeling the stress, and they are feeling the 
heat. Climate disasters have become an everyday reality in every 
community across the country. Washington State has seen droughts and 
wildfires and floods and heat waves that literally made our roads 
buckle.
  Families desperately need us to tackle rising costs and rising 
temperatures because we cannot build a stronger economy if we do not 
build a more sustainable economy, and that is why we need the Inflation 
Reduction Act. It will reduce costs for families, it will reduce 
emissions, and it will even reduce the debt and deficit.
  The climate investments in this bill are, in a word, historic. They 
won't just bring down carbon emissions by a whopping 40 percent; they 
will help us establish real energy independence from dirty fossil fuels 
and foreign adversaries. They will save lives by reducing air pollution 
and supporting conservation efforts happening in rural Washington State 
right now to prevent wildfires and protect families and address the 
climate crisis.
  This legislation will make historic, first-of-its-kind, economy-wide 
investment in clean energy that will create millions of good-paying 
clean energy jobs, including in Washington State, and it will bring 
down families' energy costs for people who are struggling to keep the 
AC on in the summer or the heat on in the winter or lights on year-
round. It will help weatherize homes and install energy-efficient 
appliances and heat pumps and rooftop solar panels and more.
  This bill will offer huge cost savings for clean or electric 
vehicles, new or

[[Page S4060]]

used, and give companies a good reason to build more of these cars in 
America.
  We aren't just cutting energy costs, though. No one should have to 
worry about whether they can afford the healthcare they need, but I 
have heard from countless patients who worked their whole life, who 
saved their money, but still had to work an extra job or move in with 
their family or even ration their prescription just to make ends meet.
  Lifesaving medicine doesn't do any good if people can't afford it. 
That is why this bill will finally give Medicare power to negotiate. We 
are going to force drug companies to the bargaining table, and patients 
everywhere are going to benefit. It will also cap seniors' annual drug 
costs and cap insulin at $35 a month and protect patients from 
companies that are jacking up prices on them with reckless abandon. It 
extends the healthcare coverage relief that helped millions of people 
save thousands of dollars on their healthcare this year.
  This isn't just saving people money; this is going to save lives--
patients who are rationing their prescriptions, afraid to see their 
doctors not because they are scared of getting a diagnosis but because 
they are scared of the price tag. If that is not the goal when we come 
to work every day, then I don't know what is.
  But the Inflation Reduction Act won't just bring down families' 
everyday costs; it will bring down the deficit by more than $300 
billion because every cent of this bill is paid for by closing 
loopholes used by enormous corporations. There is no reason a company 
making a billion-dollar profit should pay a smaller tax rate than a 
mom-and-pop shop in Washington State or a firefighter or a teacher in 
Walla Walla, WA, so Democrats won't let it fly any longer.
  Those big billion-dollar companies? They are going to pay no less 
than the same 15 percent in taxes that many of our small businesses 
already pay. Those stock buyback schemes that line the pockets of 
corporate executives and Wall Street investors but do nothing for 
working families? They are going to be taxed so companies pay their 
fair share. As for everyday Americans, they won't see their taxes go up 
one penny.
  Make no mistake, the Inflation Reduction Act represents historic 
progress. There is simply no reason anyone should be against these 
policies and many reasons to get this done now.
  This is not a bill for Democrats or Republicans; it is legislation 
that will help all Americans--lowering prescription drug costs, making 
healthcare more accessible and more affordable than ever, and pass the 
largest investment in climate action in our country's history--all paid 
for.

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