[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4545-S4546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    INFLATION REDUCTION ACT OF 2022

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, on the IRA, this afternoon I will 
join with my Senate Democratic colleagues at the White House to 
celebrate the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act

[[Page S4546]]

of 2022. When this bill passed the Senate a little over a month ago, I 
expressed confidence that this legislation would signal a turning point 
in our country's fight to lower costs, to meet our Nation's climate 
challenges, and to usher in the era of affordable clean energy.
  A month later, the good news is already pouring in. Companies like 
Toyota have announced billions in new investments to start 
manufacturing batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles right here in 
America. Elsewhere, Honda and LG Energy have also recently announced 
over $4 billion for EV battery production in the United States. And 
recently, the CEO of First Solar said it was the Inflation Reduction 
Act that provided the ``clarity'' needed to make their investments here 
in America.
  Had we not done this, many of these plants would have been built but 
probably overseas. And yet, despite this record of success, despite the 
fact that Democrats have told Republicans that this is opening a new 
way for the future for American jobs with good futures here, not one 
Republican voted in favor of this bill.
  That is the difference between the two parties in a nutshell: While 
MAGA Republicans are fixated on their extremist agenda, Democrats are 
focused on creating jobs, lowering costs, bringing our country 
together. While Democrats will join today with President Biden to 
promote our job-creating agenda, Republicans will spend today 
introducing new, radical legislation to ban abortions on the national 
level, right here on the Senate floor. That is the contrast between the 
parties, clear as day, and we know which side the American people are 
on.
  And while Democrats want to lower costs, increase prosperity, and 
strengthen ladders to the middle class, the junior Senator from 
Florida, who serves as the chief elections architect for Senate 
Republicans, continues to promote tax hikes--tax hikes--for working 
families and putting Medicare on the chopping block.
  This split screen is unmistakable for all Americans to see for 
themselves. Democrats will spend today focused on the job-creating, 
inflation-fighting agenda we promised and delivered for the American 
people, while Republicans continue defending tax hikes for the working 
class while pushing national abortion bans here in the Senate. And the 
American people will have no trouble deciding for themselves which 
party is truly in their corner.

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