[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 153 (Thursday, September 22, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4953-S4954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, we are now several weeks on from the 
passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
  The IRA is transformational legislation that will improve the lives 
of millions and millions of Americans: more affordable prescription 
drugs, cheaper energy bills, the largest investment in the climate in 
history, a serious commitment to cracking down on tax cheats who rip 
off the American people for billions of dollars every year, and 
ensuring that corporations pay a fair share.
  I am proud to say that the vast majority of the Inflation Reduction 
Act came from the Finance Committee majority.
  It is no exaggeration to say that the team on the committee and in my 
personal office collectively spent thousands and thousands of hours 
developing these proposals, building support for them under zero margin 
for error, and guaranteeing that they would pass under challenging 
Senate rules.
  Senate Democrats spent more than a year debating what would go into 
this bill before it finally came together, but the staff of the Finance 
Committee began its work long before that. Some of the components of 
the IRA go back more than a decade.
  So before the Senate goes out in the coming days, I wanted to come 
down to the floor to thank my committee and personal office staff, as 
well as the brilliant teams at the Joint Committee on Tax, 
Congressional Budget Office, and legislative counsel who made this 
achievement possible.
  I will shout out a few specifics as I thank the staff, but understand 
that legislation this significant is always a collaborative effort. And 
furthermore, there are major priorities that did not make it into the 
final version of the IRA, and the staff who worked on those issues 
deserve credit, too.
  I will start out with Tiffany Smith, who leads the best and hardest 
working tax policy team there is.
  Bobby Andres has honcho'd the Clean Energy for America Act for 7-plus 
years. He tweaked and edited and improved that bill so many times, he 
can probably recite the text in his sleep.
  Chris Arneson, Jon Goldman, and Sarah Schaefer have been instrumental 
in going after the tax loopholes that allow massive, profitable 
corporations to get away with paying little to nothing. Their work on 
those issues is going to continue to find its way into law.
  Adam Carasso and Eric LoPresti helped to make sure the IRS has the 
resources it needs to go after wealthy tax cheats who skip out on 
paying what they owe.
  And proof positive that Finance Teams support one another: Drew 
Crouch contributed tax policy help to the prescription drug reforms.
  Rachael Kauss has put a ton of work into developing the billionaire's 
income tax, and although that proposal didn't make it in the final 
bill, there is more support than ever for making sure that those at the 
very top pay a fair share like everybody else.
  Grace Enda assisted on the clean energy tax policies and more. Ursula 
Clausing supported the tax team and also made sure that our team and 
Senate Democrats were ready and organized for a tough floor debate. 
Arthur Shemitz and Melanie Jonas also supported the tax team's hard 
work.
  One other point about the Finance Committee majority's tax team--and 
this applies across the board, not just to the Inflation Reduction Act. 
If anybody out there mistakenly believes it is easy to offset the 
legislation passed here in the Senate, it is only because our tax team, 
time and time again, makes it look effortless. The truth is, it takes a 
ton of hard work, but they get it done.
  Patricio Gonzalez, a member of the committee's investigations team, 
has been digging into the tax practices of some of the biggest drug 
companies out there. His work went a long way to convincing key 
Senators that our corporate tax laws needed reform. Ryder Tobin, 
another member of the investigations team, contributed to that work and 
also helped us survive the grueling floor debate, as did Madison 
Moskowitz, Claire Kaliban, and Bonnie Million.
  Next up: healthcare. When it comes to drug prices, Big Pharma has had 
a stranglehold on the U.S. Senate for a long, long time. A lot of 
people have gone up against Big Pharma and lost. Shawn Bishop and the 
Finance Committee health team took on Big Pharma and won.
  Anna Kaltenboeck played a key role in our efforts on finally allowing 
Medicare to negotiate on behalf of seniors for a better deal on 
prescription drugs. She also worked with Raghav Aggarwal on crafting 
the Senate version of drug price negotiation, as well as key 
protections for seniors in Medicare Part D. That includes a $2,000 
annual out-of-pocket cap on their medications and a

[[Page S4954]]

price-gouging penalty for drug companies that hike prices faster than 
inflation.
  At a time when families in Oregon and across the country are getting 
hit by rising prices, Eva DuGoff worked on extending subsidies for ACA 
health insurance coverage. It will save people hundreds of dollars a 
year and a family of four up to $2,400 a year.
  Peter Fise worked on capping the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for 
seniors at $35 per month--another huge savings for many Americans. Liz 
Dervan expanded Medicaid's coverage of vaccines for adults.
  There is a long list of people who pitched in on the vital process of 
making sure the bill was compliant with the rules of the Senate known 
as the Byrd Rules. It includes Liz Dervan, whose legal acumen was 
invaluable to supporting the committee's efforts to navigate the Byrd 
rule, as well as major efforts by Peter Fise, Kristen Lunde, Kimberly 
Lattimore, Mary Ellis and Daniel Whittam from the health team. It also 
includes Sally Laing and Virginia Lenahan from our trade team, who 
contributed to the clean energy provisions.
  When it comes to Byrd rules, the point man on the Finance Committee 
is our chief counsel, Mike Evans. For all the months of work that goes 
into writing legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, the whole 
thing can come crashing down if it doesn't comply with the Byrd rules. 
Nobody is more skilled or experienced than Mike at making sure 
legislation is Byrd-compliant from the start and protecting it in Byrd 
rule arguments before the Senate Parliamentarian. Opposing counsels 
weep when they see Mike Evans and his stacks of papers enter the room. 
Reconciliation under the Byrd rule is arduous work, yet Mike approaches 
it with humor and grace along with great skill.
  Mike is a valued member of my senior leadership team, who have 
directed years of effort that made the IRA possible. I want to thank 
him, Jeff Michels, Joshua Sheinkman, Sarah Bittleman, John Dickas, and 
Isaiah Akin for guiding the team through setbacks and struggles to get 
this bill done.
  The Finance Committee's communications leads on the IRA were Ashley 
Schapitl on tax and investigations; Taylor Harvey on healthcare; Ryan 
Carey, speechwriter; and Emily Zahnle-Hostetler, digital director. The 
IRA dealt with some incredibly complicated policy issues, and it 
challenged a lot of powerful special interests. But our team got the 
word out and stood up to withering attacks in the press and here in the 
Senate.

  The Finance Committee works with many, many skilled and dedicated 
staff at the Joint Committee on Taxation on a daily basis. Suffice it 
to say, we would be out in the cold without Tom Barthold and the team 
of all-stars at JCT:

       Rob Harvey
       Chris Giosa
       Tim Dowd
       Cecily Rock
       Natalie Tucker
       Ross Margelefsky
       Jeff Arbeit
       Jared Hermann
       Carol Wang
       Kristine Roth
       Harold Hirsch
       Sanjay Misra
       Clare Diefenbach
       Rhonda Migdail
       Andrew Lai
       David Lenter
       Vivek Chandrasekhar
       Chia Chang
       Lin Xu
       James Elwell
       Kelly Scanlon
       Sally Kwak
       Chris Overend
       Kashi Way
       Bert Lue
       Deirdre James
       Connor Dowd
       Nick Bull
       Melani Houser
       Tanya Butler

  The same goes for the highly skilled and dedicated team at the 
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office under Director Phil Swagel. 
They do a difficult job to keep Congress informed of what proposed 
changes to our Federal programs will cost and always come through under 
extremely tight deadlines:

       Terri Gullo
       Leo Lex
       Paul Masi
       Chad Chirico
       Lara Robillard
       Asha Saavoss
       Stuart Hammond
       Carrie Colla
       Tamara Hayford
       Christopher Adams
       Evan Herrnstadt
       Colin Baker
       Scott Laughery
       and other CBO staff who analyzed drug pricing in the U.S. 
     over the last decade.

  And finally I want to thank the talented legal team at the Senate 
legislative counsel's office who help committee staff write the law--on 
tax policies, Mark McGunagle, Jim Fransen, Allison Otto, and Vince 
Gaiani; on health policies, John Goetcheus, Kelly Thornburg, Ruth Ernst 
and Phil Lynch.
  Whether you are talking about JCT, CBO or legislative counsel, the 
Congress grinds to a halt without their work.
  Finally, I would like to commend the work of the Senate 
Parliamentarian and her assistants. A reconciliation bill turns up a 
lot of highly complex procedural questions, and the Parliamentarian has 
to make the calls. I was not happy with all of the decisions, but the 
Parliamentarians worked tirelessly, skillfully, and with an even hand. 
Also, I would like to thank the clerks and floor staff for their work 
and endurance during the vote-a-rama.
  The debate the American people read about and watched on TV is just a 
small portion of all the work that went into the Inflation Reduction 
Act. It can be awfully frustrating to spend years developing 
legislation when Congress is this polarized. We dealt with a lot of 
setbacks. At certain points, we thought it was over. And there is still 
a lot more to get done.
  But the IRA truly is an accomplishment that will improve life for the 
American people: more affordable medications, more affordable health 
insurance, cheaper energy, the biggest ever investment in the fight 
against climate change, major progress cracking down on tax cheats and 
improving tax fairness--that is progress to be proud of. I thank the 
Finance Committee majority staff, my personal office staff, and all the 
other teams who contributed to this effort.
  I yield the floor.