Inflation Reduction Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, on the Inflation Reduction Act, this is the second place where the numbers that we read this morning show that the Democrats are on the move and that Republicans are in retreat.

Today's news provides another bevy of reminders of why the Inflation Reduction Act is not only bold and commonsense but is extremely popular with the American people.

This morning, five former Treasury Secretaries--including former Secretary Hank Paulson, who served under President George W. Bush-- released a statement praising the Inflation Reduction Act and urging Congress to move quickly to secure its passage. The bipartisan group wrote that the Inflation Reduction Act ``will help increase American competitiveness, address our climate crisis, lower costs for families, and fight inflation--and should be passed immediately by Congress.''

The bipartisan group of Treasury Secretaries also affirmed what Democrats have been saying for days: The Inflation Reduction Act will not--no matter how much our Republican colleagues argue to the contrary--increase taxes for any family making less than $400,000 a year.

Again, our proposals call for closing loopholes that have long enabled the biggest companies in America to avoid paying their fair share. And even former Republican Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is now calling on Congress to pass the Democratic agenda. He is in very good company. This morning, a poll by Navigator also showed the Inflation Reduction Act as overwhelmingly popular--overwhelmingly popular--in the minds of the American people.

According to this poll, 65 percent of Americans support the proposals in the bill, compared to only 24 percent who oppose. More than double the people support the act than oppose it. It includes 60 percent of Independent voters and even 40 percent of Republican voters. So America is on our side. They want us to pass this bill.

Now, contrast the Democrats' agenda to what we have been hearing from the other side. While Democrats want to make healthcare more affordable, just yesterday the junior Senator from Wisconsin argued that instead of strengthening Medicare and Social Security, we should put them on the chopping block.

Hear that, citizens of Wisconsin, citizens of America? The junior Senator from Wisconsin wants to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block. He has argued that the benefits, which millions of Americans rely on every day, shouldn't be guaranteed but should be subject to partisan infighting here in Washington.

He would like to revoke the guarantee of Medicare and Social Security and make them discretionary. Well, you know what happens when we make things discretionary around here? All too often they get cut or even eliminated. We don't want to do that. But the Senator from Wisconsin said we should. So senior citizens of America, listen loud and clear: Senator Johnson called for making these programs discretionary.

For decades, they have not been. They have been programs that when you become 65, you get it. It is not up to the whims of one Congress or another.

So we will fight as hard as we can to prevent the Republicans, led by the Wisconsin junior Senator, from pulling out the rug from under seniors. We will fight the MAGA Republican politicians who want to gut these critical programs.

It is comments like these that show how out of touch the other side has become. While Republicans were perfectly willing to blow a $2 trillion hole in our deficit in order to give tax cuts to the ultrarich and to the big corporations, now some of them are saying Medicare and Social Security should no longer be guaranteed.

Of course, our Democratic proposal, the Inflation Reduction Act, is vastly different. We will protect healthcare. We will lower the price of prescription drugs and make energy cheaper while making the largest investment in clean energy ever.

These are things that Americans support. These are things that our country needs. And these are things that we are going to get done when we pass the Inflation Reduction Act in the coming days.

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