Tag Archives: Inflation Reduction Act

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change, Energy, Infrastructure, Jobs, Manufacturing, News & Photo Features

Memo to America: Biden’s Investing in America Policy to Building Sustainable Economy Has Generated $1 Trillion in Private Sector Investment in Clean Energy, Manufacturing

More than 3.4 million American families have already saved $8.4 billion on home clean energy upgrades, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Three million more households in America have high-speed internet today than when President Biden took office. There are already more than 74,000 infrastructure and clean energy projects underway across the country, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. That includes 11,400 bridge projects, 196,000 miles of roads under repair, and 376,000 lead pipes already replaced, benefitting nearly 1 million people. Millions of seniors are benefitting from the $35 cap on the cost of insulin, and the cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries has already saved 1.5 million seniors nearly $1 billion in the first half of 2024, with Medicare beneficiaries feeling the full benefits starting in January. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

People said they voted against Kamala Harris because they were just so so very upset about inflation, how they were suffering in this terrible economy, so voted for the guy who not only had no policy, plan or program to address inflation or high prices, but whose stated Project 2025 policies (tariffs) would hurt the economy, jobs and prices. But I am wondering how bad the economy really could be if holiday spending is already up 9%, malls and online sites are seeing massive increases in shoppers, there is record travel on the roads and through airports. Oh, by the way, gas prices are around $3 or less a gallon – close to 2019; – and inflation has fallen below 2.3% for the year, comparable to 2019, while REAL wage increases (that is increased income compared to inflation) are up on average $4000; Thanksgiving meal prices are down. But those working class people (suckers) who think that Trump will give them a better deal? Are you kidding or just really willfully ignorant? Have you seen the billionaires, kleptocrats, oligarchs (not to mention the misogynists, sexual predators and felons) he is installing in power? They are already salivating at shutting down the National Labor Relations Board, ending food and product safety regulation, environmental protection, restricting food stamps and vaccinations for poor children and cutting Medicare and Social Security, while serving up deeper tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals (the top 0.1% already control more wealth than 50 percent of the country) and corporations, already sitting on record profits from price-gouging.

Biden’s Deputy Chief of Staff offered this memo “to interested parties” on what President Biden accomplished that I’m betting 99.9% of Americans have no clue about $1 TRILLION in private sector investment in clean energy and manufacturing since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office because of Biden’s Investing in America agenda, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act – all of which Republicans tried to block, obstruct, sabotage and now threaten to repeal.It’s like the way Republicans were able to generate hostility to Obama’s Affordable Care Act in order to win the 2010 midterms and how Obamacare has become so popular and important in people’s lives, but Trump and the MAGA Republicans are still keen to repeal it, leaving millions without healthcare desperate and insecure – Karen Rubin, news-photos-features.com

On the success of $1 trillion in investment due to his policies and approach to building a sustainable economy “from the bottom up and the middle out,” President Biden stated:

When I took office, the pandemic was raging and the economy was reeling. From Day One, I was determined to not only deliver economic relief, but to invest in America and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.

Over the last four years, that’s exactly what we’ve done. We passed legislation to rebuild our infrastructure, build a clean energy economy, and bring manufacturing back to the United States after decades of offshoring. Today I’m proud to announce my Investing in America agenda—the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act—has helped attract over $1 trillion in announced private-sector investments. These investments in industries of the future are ensuring the future is made in America, by American workers. And they’re creating opportunities in communities too often left behind.

Over 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs have been created over the last four years, and our investments are making America a leader in clean energy and semiconductor technologies that will protect our economic and national security, while expanding opportunities in red states and blue states.

Today, thanks to my Investing in America agenda, businesses around the world are investing in America—which is good news for American workers and American businesses—and we’re positioned to win the economic competition for the 21st century.

To: Interested Parties

From: Natalie Quillian, White House Deputy Chief of Staff

MEMO: President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda’s Growing Durability and Popularity

When President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office, America was in the midst of a deadly pandemic and our economy was reeling. Since then, President Biden and Vice President Harris have overseen one of the most successful administrations in history and will be leaving behind the best economy in the world.

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’ leadership, 16 million jobs have been created, and we’ve gotten women and people of color back in the labor force at record rates. A record 20 million new business applications have been filed, and inflation is down to near pre-pandemic levels. These outcomes are due in part to our success in passing and implementing legislation that rebuilt our nation’s infrastructure, made the largest investment in climate action in history, lowered prescription drug costs, and spurred a manufacturing renaissance. Together, the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act – the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda – are reshaping our economy. And as of today, that agenda has helped spur over $1 trillion in private sector investment in clean energy and manufacturing since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office.

The level of private sector investment seen under this administration is unprecedented. Business leaders have called the boom in private investment “nothing short of extraordinary,” and have said the United States’ economy is “among the best performing economies” in decades. It is driving a manufacturing renaissance across the country and onshoring new and growing industries such as semiconductors, solar, batteries, and more. It’s also helping rebuild communities and create opportunity in places that were overlooked or left behind by public and private investment for far too long.

As of today, the Department of Commerce has announced over two dozen preliminary or final agreements with semiconductor manufacturing companies to create American-made chips in Phoenix, Arizona; Columbus, Ohio; Taylor, Texas; Syracuse, New York, and more, spurring over $400 billion in private investment that will create at least 125,000 jobs. Over $119 billion in investments in EVs and batteries and $122 billion in clean power have been announced in just the two years since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed. Recent announcements show these investments have continued at a steady pace. For example, in the last month alone, SolarCycle announced it would invest $400 million in Georgia for the largest solar panel recycling facility in the country, MainSpring Energy announced it would match an $87 million grant from the Department of Energy to manufacture power generators in Allegheny County, PA, and Microporous announced a $1.35 billion investment to create 2,000 jobs building battery separators in southern Virginia.

In addition to private investment, the Biden-Harris Administration has been implementing these laws quickly, effectively and equitably since the day the first Investing in America bill was signed. Due to that effort, there are already more than 74,000 infrastructure and clean energy projects underway across the country, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. That includes 11,400 bridge projects, 196,000 miles of roads under repair, and 376,000 lead pipes already replaced, benefitting nearly 1 million people. More than 3.4 million American families have already saved $8.4 billion on home clean energy upgrades, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Three million more households in America have high-speed internet today than when President Biden took office. Millions of seniors are benefitting from the $35 cap on the cost of insulin, and the cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries has already saved 1.5 million seniors nearly $1 billion in the first half of 2024, with Medicare beneficiaries feeling the full benefits starting in January.

To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced awards for 98% of Investing in America funding available for us to spend by the end of fiscal year 2024. Departments and agencies are running through the tape – announcing more awards, finalizing contracts and grant agreements, and accelerating permitting timelines. For example, the Department of Transportation executed more than twice as many grant agreements compared to the prior administration, completed 20 percent more environmental reviews in the transportation sector, and cut the time it takes to complete environmental assessments for transportation projects by one third.

These programs and projects mean real benefits for people across the country. It’s why as we continue to implement the Investing in America agenda, we see these programs grow in popularity even among skeptics, suggesting that the transformation of the U.S. economy is here to stay. For example:

  • Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support keeping the Inflation Reduction Act’s $35 per month cap on the cost of insulin for seniors, including 76% of Republicans.
  • A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 88% of Americans support the Administration’s work building or repairing our nation’s roads, bridges, rail lines, ports and other infrastructure.
  • Outside groups have found that the majority of private sector investments spurred by Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits are going to red districts, and 57 percent of the new clean energy jobs created since the Inflation Reduction Act passed are located in Congressional districts represented by Republicans.

The progress we’ve made, however, represents only a fraction of the full impact of this agenda. As the President said earlier this month, the impacts of this historic agenda “will be felt over the next 10 years.” If future Administrations continue to implement at the pace we have, people across the country will enjoy the benefits of safer water, cleaner air, faster internet, and smoother commutes.  For example, by the end of 2026, the country is on track to have launched repairs on a total of over 356,000 miles of highway and over 20,800 bridges with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. By the end of 2028, communities will replace more than one million toxic lead pipes, bringing clean water to over 2.5 million people and protecting the health and safety of children and families.  And by 2030, 6 million more households and small businesses will have access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.

Also, major projects we’ve funded will be completed in the coming years. For example, TSMC’s first Arizona factory will fully open in early 2025 and for the first time in decades, an American manufacturing plant will produce leading-edge chips. Service on the Brightline West High Speed Rail System, connecting Las Vegas, Nevada to Rancho Cucamonga, California, is on track to start in 2028, in time for the Los Angeles Olympics. A project to replace Michigan’s outdated I-375 freeway will be completed in the same year.

Over the coming months, the Biden-Harris Administration will continue the critical work of implementing the Investing in America agenda by announcing more awards, finalizing contracts and grant agreements, and making sure these investments are reaching the American people. While the full effects won’t be realized for years to come, it’s clear that the Investing in America agenda – and its impacts on the economy, on communities, and on American families – is here to stay.

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Economy, Health Care, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Two Years In, the Inflation Reduction Act is Lowering Costs for Millions of Americans, Tackling the Climate Crisis, and Creating Jobs

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden in Largo, Maryland on the two-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act celebrate historic reductions in drug prices negotiated by Medicare for the first time.  The Inflation Reduction Act is transforming American lives by finally beating Big Pharma to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, making the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in history, creating hundreds of thousands good-paying jobs, lowering health care and energy costs, and making the tax code fairer. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

Two years ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote in Congress. Not a single Republican voted for it and Trump/Vance and the Republicans vow to repeal it and replace it with Project 2025 laundry list of policies which will harm working and middle-class families. and undermine progress toward an equitable, sustainable economy. –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The Inflation Reduction Act is a key part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, which has driven the fastest and most equitable recovery on record – creating good-paying jobs, expanding opportunity, and lowering costs in every corner of the country.

Already, the Inflation Reduction Act is transforming American lives by finally beating Big Pharma to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, making the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in history, creating hundreds of thousands good-paying jobs, lowering health care and energy costs, and making the tax code fairer.

Visit the White House Savings Explorer to see how Americans are saving money on their annual expenses because of the Inflation Reduction Act and other Biden-Harris Administration actions.

Statement from President Joe Biden on Inflation Reduction Act Anniversary 

Two years ago, I signed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history that is lowering energy costs and creating good-paying union jobs, while taking on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs—with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. Already, this law is lowering health care costs for millions of families, strengthening energy security, and creating more than 330,000 clean energy jobs according to outside groups.  It has also unleashed $265 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments from the private sector in the last two years—part of the nearly $900 billion invested in America since we took office.

This historic legislation is fiscally responsible. It lowers the deficit over the long run by cutting wasteful spending on special interests and making big corporations and the wealthy pay more of their fair share. And just yesterday, my Administration announced lower prescription drug prices for the first ten drugs that have been negotiated by Medicare, which will cut the prices of drugs used to treat blood clots, heart disease, cancer, and more by nearly 40% to 80%, and save taxpayers $6 billion in the first year alone.

While Republicans in Congress try to repeal this law—which would increase prescription drug costs and take good-paying jobs away from their constituents, all to give massive tax cuts to big corporations—Vice President Harris and I will keep fighting to move our country forward by investing in America and giving families more breathing room.

Statement from President Joe Biden on Inflation Reduction Act Anniversary 

Two years ago, I signed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history that is lowering energy costs and creating good-paying union jobs, while taking on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs—with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. Already, this law is lowering health care costs for millions of families, strengthening energy security, and creating more than 330,000 clean energy jobs according to outside groups.  It has also unleashed $265 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments from the private sector in the last two years—part of the nearly $900 billion invested in America since we took office.

This historic legislation is fiscally responsible. It lowers the deficit over the long run by cutting wasteful spending on special interests and making big corporations and the wealthy pay more of their fair share. And just yesterday, my Administration announced lower prescription drug prices for the first ten drugs that have been negotiated by Medicare, which will cut the prices of drugs used to treat blood clots, heart disease, cancer, and more by nearly 40% to 80%, and save taxpayers $6 billion in the first year alone.

While Republicans in Congress try to repeal this law—which would increase prescription drug costs and take good-paying jobs away from their constituents, all to give massive tax cuts to big corporations—Vice President Harris and I will keep fighting to move our country forward by investing in America and giving families more breathing room.

FACT SHEET: Two Years In, the Inflation Reduction Act is Lowering Costs for Millions of Americans, Tackling the Climate Crisis, and Creating Jobs

In the two years since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law:

  • Just yesterday, the President and Vice President announced that, for the first time in history, Medicare successfully negotiated lower prescription drug prices, which will save millions of seniors, people with disabilities, and other Medicare beneficiaries over $1.5 billion out-of-pocket in the first year. 
    • Millions of Americans are saving an average of $800 per year on health insurance premiums because of cost savings from the American Rescue Plan that the Inflation Reduction Act extended, helping drive the nation’s uninsured rate to historic lows. 4 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries saved money on insulin because of the law’s cap at $35 for a month’s supply. 10.3 million Medicare enrollees received a free vaccine in 2023, saving them more than $400 million in out-of-pocket vaccine costs.
       The IRS successfully piloted Direct File in 12 states, saving 140,000 people an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees by enabling them to file their taxes directly with the IRS online, for free. And, the IRS has recovered over $1 billion by cracking down on millionaire tax cheats since the law passed. 
       Last year, 3.4 million Americans benefited from $8.4 billion in Inflation Reduction Act tax credits to lower the cost of clean energy and energy efficiency upgrades in their homes – significantly outpacing projections of the popularity of the tax credits in just the first year they were available.
       Since January 2024, more than 250,000 Americans have claimed the IRA’s electric vehicle tax credit, saving these buyers about $1.5 billion total. Nearly all of these buyers claimed the incentive at the point of sale.
       Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, companies have announced$900 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments in the US, including over $265 billion in clean energy investments since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law. These investments are creating over 330,000 new jobs in the United States according to an outside group. 
       
    • Economically distressed areas are poised to benefit the most from those investments. Over 99% of high-poverty counties in the United States are benefitting from an Investing in America project funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or CHIPS and Science Act. According to Treasury Department analysis, since the Inflation Reduction Act passed, 75% of private sector clean energy investments have flowed to counties with lower than median household incomes,  and clean energy investment in energy communities has doubled.  And, the Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in environmental justice in history.

Additionally, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken action to protect the critical investments that the Inflation Reduction Act is making in the domestic clean energy economy from unfair trade practices. In May, President Biden increased tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese imports to combat China’s artificially low-priced exports in strategic sectors such as electric vehicles, batteries, and solar. These actions protect American jobs, businesses, investments, and economic growth. 

Lowering health care costs for millions of Americans

President Biden and Vice President Harris have made expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care and lowering prescription drug costs for American families a top priority. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, health care is more accessible and more affordable than ever before.  In just the last two years:

  • The law enhanced the Affordable Care Act’s financial assistance that is available to consumers to purchase health insurance. Millions of Americans are saving, on average, about $800 a year on their health insurance plans, with more than 80 percent of consumers able to find health insurance for $10 or less a month. As a result, a record-breaking 21 million people signed up for ACA coverage in 2024. That’s 9 million more than when the President and Vice President took office, and more underserved communities are enrolling in coverage, with 1.7 million Black Americans and 3.4 million Latinos enrolled, a 95% and 103% increase, respectively, since 2020.
    • The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin costs at $35 for a month’s supply and making recommended adult vaccines free. Four million Medicare beneficiaries are now saving on their monthly insulin costs, and over 10 million beneficiaries received a free vaccine, saving more than $400 million in out-of-pocket cost. 
       Drug companies that increase prices faster than inflation now have to pay a rebate to Medicare—which is translating into lower out of pocket costs for seniors.
       Next year, out of pocket drug costs will be capped at $2,000 per year for Medicare beneficiaries, which is expected to save nearly 19 million seniors an average of $400 per year.
       
  • The Inflation Reduction Act – for the first time ever – gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Just this week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new, lower prescription drug prices for all ten drugs selected for the first year of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. The new, lower prices, which go into effect in 2026, will save American taxpayers $6 billion and will save seniors and people with disabilities $1.5 billion in out of pocket costs in 2026 alone. These new prices cut the list cost for drugs that treat heart disease, blood clots, diabetes, cancer, and more by nearly 40% to 80%.

Lowering energy costs with the largest climate investment in history

The Inflation Reduction Act is tackling the climate crisis by advancing clean power, cutting pollution from buildings, transportation, and industry and supporting climate-smart agriculture and forestry. The law is accelerating our progress toward President Biden and Vice President Harris’ goal of cutting U.S. climate pollution by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030.

Two years after the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris Administration has made tremendous progress implementing the climate and clean energy provisions of this law quickly and effectively. Treasury guidance is now available for nearly all of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax provisions. On the grant, loan, and rebate side of the law, nearly two thirds of Inflation Reduction Act funding has been awarded. As an example of the Administration’s rapid progress on implementation, today the Environmental Protection Agency announced that all $27 billion in awards through their Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund are now obligated. $20 billion of these awards go toward a national clean energy financing network that will support tens of thousands of clean energy projects, reducing or avoiding millions of metric tons of carbon pollution annually over the next seven years. The other $7 billion in awards through the Solar for All program will save over $350 million each year on energy bills for over 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged households through residential solar.

In the two years since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law:

  • Clean energy projects are creating more than 330,000 jobs in nearly every state in the country, according to outside groups.
    • Companies have announced $265 billion in new clean energy investments in nearly every state in the nation. According to Treasury Department analysis, many of these investments are happening in underserved communities—since the IRA passed, 75% of private sector clean energy investments made since the Inflation Reduction Act passed have occurred in counties with lower than median household incomes,  and clean energy investment in energy communities has doubled. Last week, Treasury and IRS released new data showing that in 2023, more than 3.4 million American families saved $8.4 billion from IRA consumer tax credits on home energy technologies. These tax credits can save families up to 30% off heat pumps, insulation, rooftop solar, and other clean energy technologies. New York and Wisconsin have now launched home energy rebate programs, with more states expected to launch later this summer and fall. Already, 22 states have submitted their applications to DOE to receive their full rebate funding. These rebate programs help low- and middle-income families afford cost-saving electric appliances and energy efficiency improvements by providing rebates up to $14,000 per household. In total, the IRA rebates programs are expected to save consumers up to $1 billion annually in energy costs and support an estimated 50,000 U.S. jobs in residential construction, manufacturing, and other sectors. 
    • Since January 2024, more than 250,000 Americans have claimed the Inflation Reduction Act’s EV tax credits—either $7,500 off a qualified new electric vehicle, or up to $4,000 off a qualified used electric vehicle. In total, these taxpayers have saved about $1.5 billion and nearly all buyers claimed the incentive at the point of sale.


Making the tax system fairer and making the wealthy pay their fair share

The Inflation Reduction Act fully pays for these investments, and reduces the deficit over the long run, by cutting wasteful spending on special interests and making big corporations and the wealthy pay more of their fair share. After 55 of the biggest corporations in America paid $0 in federal income tax on $40 billion in profits in 2020, the Inflation Reduction Act requires billion-dollar corporations to pay at least 15 percent in tax. It also requires corporations to pay a 1 percent excise tax on stock buybacks, encouraging businesses to invest in their growth and productivity instead of funneling tax-preferred profits to foreign shareholders. By making large corporations pay more of their fair share, the IRA will raise around $300 billion over a decade.

The Inflation Reduction Act also makes a historic investment in modernizing the IRS, providing funding to better taxpayer experience, reduce fraud, and upgrade critical technology infrastructure. Thanks to these investments, the IRS has already:

  • Improved services for millions of taxpayers. This spring, the IRS answered 3 million more phone calls than in 2022, cut phone wait times to three minutes from 28 minutes, served 200,000 more taxpayers in person, and saved taxpayers 1.4 million hours on hold last filing season. It also expanded online services, enabling 94% of taxpayers to submit forms digitally instead of via mail if they so choose.
    • Successfully piloted Direct File, allowing taxpayers to easily file their taxes online and for free, directly with the IRS for the first time. Over 140,000 Americans successfully filed their taxes through Direct File this year, claiming over $90 million in refunds and saving an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees. Users said Direct File was easy and fast to use, with 90% rating their experience excellent or above average. Building on this success, the IRS has invited all 50 states and the District of Columbia to join Direct File starting in 2025. 
    • Collected $1 billion from 1,500 millionaire tax cheats, launched enforcement action against 25,000 millionaires who have not filed a tax return since 2017, began audits on dozens of the largest corporations and partnerships, and cracked down on high-end tax evasion like deducting personal use of corporate jets as a business expense. At the same time, the IRS is adhering to Treasury Secretary Yellen’s commitment to not increase audit rates relative to current levels for small businesses and Americans making less than $400,000 a year.

Over the next decade, the Inflation Reduction Act’s investments will enable the IRS to further crack down on wealthy and corporate tax cheats and collect over $400 billion in additional revenue.

Going forward, the IRS is on track to implement additional improvements to taxpayer experience; provide additional in-person services in rural and underserved areas; redesign notices and forms to be less confusing; and expand online and mobile-friendly tools.

Investing in America to create jobs and expand opportunity

When President Biden thinks about climate change, he thinks about jobs. Two years into implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, it’s easy to see why.

Across the nation, the Inflation Reduction Act is catalyzing a clean energy and manufacturing boom. Since President Biden took office, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda has catalyzed nearly $900 billion in private sector investment commitments, including roughly $400 billion in clean energy across every state in the nation. That topline figure includes enough power generation to replace 40 Hoover Dams, the largest wind tower manufacturing facility in the world, the largest solar investment in US history.

Broader macroeconomic indicators also illustrate how, through tax credits and domestic content requirements within the law–we are successfully onshoring critical supply chains and encouraging a resurgence of domestic manufacturing. Real investment in manufacturing structures is at an all-time high—and has been for six quarters. Manufacturing’s contribution to GDP broke quarters for three consecutive quarters in 2023. And Americans have filed to open a record 300,000 new manufacturing businesses.

These investments are having real impacts on communities—particularly those that need it most. Public dollars are flowing disproportionately to disadvantaged and left behind communities: 99% of high-poverty counties have received funding from the infrastructure law, CHIPS Act, or Inflation Reduction Act, and non-metro communities have received nearly double the per capita funding of their urban counterparts. On the private sector side, analysis from the US Treasury tells a similar story. Since the IRA passed, 84% of announced clean investments have flowed to counties with college graduation rates below the national average, and the rate of investment in energy communities has more than doubled. Given these successes, it is no wonder that Republicans who voted against the bill are suddenly trying to take credit for it—and urging their leadership not to proceed with an unpopular repeal effort.

Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on the Inflation Reduction Act Anniversary

Since day one of our Administration, President Joe Biden and I have made it a priority to strengthen the middle class by lowering costs, creating jobs, and advancing opportunity. That is why we fought to enact our Inflation Reduction Act, historic legislation that I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote on in the Senate. In the two years since President Biden signed it into law, this landmark bill has already delivered for American families.

This transformational legislation is reducing the cost of health care for millions of people in communities across our nation – from capping the price of insulin at $35 a month for seniors to capping out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 a year for Americans on Medicare, which is expected to save nearly 19 million seniors an average of $400 per year. Additionally, Medicare is now able to negotiate lower prescription prices for millions of Americans while saving taxpayers billions by paying rates 40% to 80% lower for expensive medications used to treat conditions such as blood clots, heart disease, and cancer.

Our Inflation Reduction Act is also the single largest climate investment in American history. While taking on the climate crisis and lowering utility bills for families, it is helping us to rebuild American manufacturing and drive American innovation – creating good-paying union jobs, furthering economic opportunity, and contributing to the nearly $900 billion of private-sector investment since President Biden and I took office.

As we mark this two-year anniversary, President Biden and I recommit to doing everything in our power to ensure that families throughout our country have the freedom to thrive

Biden Administration, Health Care, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New, Lower Prices for First Ten Drugs Selected for Medicare Price Negotiation to Lower Costs for Millions of Americans

President Joe Biden, at the State of the Union Address, touts Medicare’s ability for the first time to negotiate prices with Big Pharma, a win for seniors who will pay significantly less, and for Medicare, saving $1.5 billion the first year © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

New negotiated drug prices are expected to save millions of seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year of the program alone. This fact sheet was provided by the White House:

For far too long, Americans have paid more for their prescription drugs than any developed nation. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is delivering on its promise to lower out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors and save money for Americans. That’s because Medicare has the power to negotiate prescription drug prices for the first time in history thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by President Biden with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. Because Medicare is now able to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors and people with disabilities, American taxpayers are expected to save $6 billion on prescription drug costs, and people enrolled in Medicare are expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2026 alone. President Biden and Vice President Harris took on Big Pharma and won, and now millions of seniors and others on Medicare will soon see their drug costs go down on some of the most common and expensive prescription drugs that treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood clots, and more.


HHS Announces Negotiated Prices for Medicare Drugs

HHS has reached agreements with all participating manufacturers on new negotiated, lower drug prices for the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare drug price negotiation program. After manufacturers have steadily increased the list prices of all 10 of these drugs since they went on the market, these new prices will cut the list price of these drugs between 38 and 79 percent.

The new prices will go into effect for people with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage in 2026:

Drug NameCommonly Treated ConditionsNumber of Medicare Enrollees Who Used the Drug in 2023Drug List Price in 2023 for 30-day SupplyNegotiated Price for 2026 for 30-day SupplySavings (%)
EliquisPrevention and treatment of blood clots3,928,000$521$231$290 (-56%)
JardianceDiabetes; Heart failure; Chronic kidney disease1,883,000$573$197$376 (-66%)
XareltoPrevention and treatment of blood clots; Reduction of risk for patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease1,324,000$517$197$320 (-62%)
JanuviaDiabetes843,000$527$113$414 (-79%)
FarxigaDiabetes; Heart failure; Chronic kidney disease994,000$556$178.50$377.50 (-68%)
EntrestoHeart failure664,000$628$295$333 (-53%)
EnbrelRheumatoid arthritis; Psoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis48,000$7,106$2,355$4,751 (-67%)
ImbruvicaBlood cancers17,000$14,934$9,319$5,615 (-38%)
StelaraPsoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis; Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis23,000$13,836$4,695$9,141 (-66%)
Fiasp; Fiasp FlexTouch; Fiasp PenFill;
NovoLog; NovoLog FlexPen; NovoLog PenFill		Diabetes785,000$495$119$376 (-76%)

Source: CMS, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-negotiated-prices-initial-price-applicability-year-2026.pdf

These ten drugs are among those with highest total spending in Medicare Part D. If the negotiated prices had been in effect during 2023, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion. When the negotiated prices go into effect in 2026, people enrolled in Medicare Part D are estimated to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs.

Millions of Part D enrollees that depend on these treatments to treat life-threatening conditions including diabetes, heart failure, and cancer are also expected to see lower out-of-pocket costs for these drugs. For example, a Medicare enrollee who takes Stelara for their arthritis and pays $3,459 on their drug today for a 30-day supply would pay only $1,174 in 2026. Many seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare who take these drugs will also benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act’s $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending, which will be fully in effect in 2025, saving 19 million beneficiaries an average of $400 per year, in addition to these savings from the negotiated drug prices.

More drugs will be selected each year as part of Medicare’s drug price negotiation program. Medicare will select up to 15 additional drugs covered under Part D for negotiation in 2025, up to an additional 15 Part B and D drugs in 2026, and up to 20 drugs every year after that.

Building on Progress Lowering Health Care Costs

Every day, millions of Americans are saving money on health care costs because of the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions.

  • People with Medicare are saving an average of $70 in out-of-pocket costs on vaccines like shingles and Tdap because President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act made recommended vaccines free for beneficiaries, including the 10.3 million enrollees who received a free vaccine in 2023.
  • All 3.4 million Medicare Part D enrollees who filled an insulin prescription in 2023 had their insulin costs capped at $35 per month, saving some seniors hundreds of dollars for a month’s supply.
  • Some seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries taking drugs covered under Part B for which manufacturers have hiked prices faster than inflation are saving up to $4,593 in lower coinsurance this quarter thanks to the new Medicare inflation rebates.
  • Starting this year, Part D enrollees no longer pay 5% co-insurance when they reach the catastrophic phase of their benefit and have their out-of-pocket drug costs capped at about $3,500. In just the first quarter of 2024, over 260,000 people benefited from this cap.
  • Millions of American are saving an average of about $800 per year on health insurance premiums because of savings from the American Rescue Plan that the Inflation Reduction Act extended, helping drive the nation’s uninsured rate to historic lows under the Biden-Harris Administration.

Check out the Biden-Harris Administration’s Savings Explorer to see how some of the Administration’s policies are helping Americans save money on annual expenses – from health care to junk fees, grocery costs and more.

Continuing to Lower Prescription Drug Costs

People with Medicare will continue to see their prescription drug costs go down as more provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act go into effect next year. Nearly 19 million seniors and other Part D beneficiaries are projected to save $400 per year on prescription drugs when the out-of-pocket cap drops to $2,000 in 2025, and 1.9 million enrollees with the highest drug costs will save an average of $2,500 per year. And the lower prices negotiated for the high-spend drugs announced today will go into effect in 2026.

The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2025 builds on this success by significantly increasing the pace of negotiation, bringing more drugs into negotiation sooner after they launch, expanding the $2,000 out-of-pocket prescription drug cost cap beyond Medicare and into the commercial market, and other steps to build on the Inflation Reduction Act drug provisions. The Budget also includes proposals to curb inflation in prescription drug prices and extends the $35 cost-sharing cap for monthly prescriptions of insulin to the commercial market to lower drug costs for all Americans.


Statement from President Joe Biden on Lower Prescription Drug Prices

For years, millions of Americans were forced to choose between paying for medications or putting food on the table, while Big Pharma blocked Medicare from being able to negotiate prices on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities. But we fought back – and won.
 
Today, for the first time in history, my Administration is announcing that Medicare has reached agreements on new, lower prices with the manufacturers of all 10 drugs selected for the first round of drug price negotiation. When these lower prices go into effect, people on Medicare will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs and Medicare will save $6 billion in the first year alone. It’s a relief for the millions of seniors that take these drugs to treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and more – and it’s a relief for American taxpayers.
 
This historic milestone is only possible because of the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed with the leadership of Democrats in Congress, and with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate – without a single Republican voting for it. We showed that major progress can be made for the American people when we work together to take on special interests, even as Big Pharma continues to go to court to try to block lower prices for consumers. But the Vice President and I are not backing down. We will continue the fight to make sure all Americans can pay less for prescription drugs and to give more breathing room for American families.

Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Every American should be able to access the health care they need no matter their income or wealth. That is why President Biden and I fought to lower the costs of health care with our Inflation Reduction Act, transformational legislation that I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote on in the Senate. During the two years since President Biden signed this landmark bill into law, we have cut prescription drug costs, capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month, and lowered premiums for seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare – helping millions of families get the care they deserve.

Today, we are building on our work to lower costs and increase access to affordable prescription drugs by announcing that the Biden-Harris Administration has reached agreements with all participating manufacturers to lower prices for the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare price negotiation program – from those that treat cancer to those that treat diabetes, heart disease, and blood clots. Thanks to our historic work to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, millions of Americans who rely on these drugs will save on their out-of-pocket costs. While people enrolled in Medicare are expected to save $1.5 billion in 2026 alone, American taxpayers will also save an estimated $6 billion.

Today’s announcement will be lifechanging for so many of our loved ones across the nation, and we are not stopping here. Additional prescription drugs will be selected each year as part of our Medicare drug price negotiation program. This includes up to 15 additional drugs covered under Medicare Part D for negotiation in 2025, up to an additional 15 Part B and Part D drugs in 2026, and up to 20 drugs every year after that.

From my time as Attorney General of California and a U.S. Senator, I have consistently worked to lower the costs of prescription drugs and fought to protect patients. As Attorney General, I held Big Pharma accountable for their deceptive and illegal practices. The record-breaking settlements that I won – for the people – amounted to more than $7 billion against pharmaceutical companies for their unsafe and unfair tactics. President Biden and I will never stop fighting for the health, wellbeing, and financial stability of the American people.

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Historic $20 Billion in Awards to Expand Access to Clean Energy and Climate Solutions and Lower Energy Costs

First-of-its-kind national network to fund tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across America, especially in communities historically left behind and overburdened by pollution

Climate United Fund’s program will focus on investing in harder-to-reach market segments like consumers, small businesses, small farms, community facilities, and schools—with at least 60% of its investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities, 20% in rural communities, and 10% in Tribal communities. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com


Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced s $20 billion in awards to stand up a national financing network that will fund tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across the country, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.

This investment is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a first-of-its-kind and national-scale $27 billion program funded through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to combat the climate crisis by catalyzing public and private capital for projects that slash harmful climate pollution, improve air quality, lower energy costs, and create good-paying jobs. This program will ensure communities across the country have access to the capital they need to participate in and benefit from a cleaner, more sustainable economy.
 
Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA Administrator Michael Regan were joined by Governor Roy Cooper, Mayor Vi Lyles, and Congresswoman Alma Adams in Charlotte, North Carolina to announce the selections under these two grant competitions.
 
This historic investment will support a wide range of climate and clean energy projects, including distributed clean power generation and storage, net-zero retrofits of homes and small businesses, and zero-emission transportation, all of which can lower energy costs for families and improve housing affordability while tackling the climate crisis. Collectively, the selected applicants have committed to reducing or avoiding up to 40 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually over the next seven years, contributing toward the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic climate goals. In addition, selectees plan to mobilize almost $7 of private capital for every $1 of federal funds—approximately $150 billion total—ensuring that today’s awards will have a catalytic, ongoing effect on the deployment of climate and clean energy technologies at scale, particularly in underserved communities.
 
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets the goal that 40% of the overall benefits from certain federal climate, clean energy, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. At least 70% of the funds announced today—over $14 billion of capital—will be invested in low-income and disadvantaged communities, including historic energy communities that have powered our nation for over a century, communities with environmental justice concerns, communities of color, low-income communities, rural communities, Tribal communities, and more. This makes the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund the single largest non-tax investment within the Inflation Reduction Act to build a clean energy economy while benefiting communities historically left behind.
 
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are already attempting to roll back these historic investments. Last month, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1023, which would repeal the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. On March 19, President Biden issued a Statement of Administration Policy with his intent to veto that bill if it were to pass the Senate and come to his desk.
 
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Selectees
 
The $20 billion in awards announced today will be deployed through eight selected applicants across two separate and complementary programs under EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund—the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) and the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA). Together, the two programs will create a first-of-its-kind national network of mission-driven, community-led financial institutions that will finance climate and clean energy projects across the country, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
 
Under the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF), selected applicants will partner with the private sector, community organizations, and others to provide accessible, affordable financing for new clean technology projects nationwide. While EPA required that at least 40 percent of NCIF funds flow to low-income and disadvantaged communities, each selected applicant significantly surpassed that requirement. Therefore, almost 60 percent of NCIF funds will flow to the communities that need it most. The three NCIF selectees are:
 

  • Climate United Fund ($6.97 billion award), a nonprofit formed by Calvert Impact to partner with two U.S. Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Self-Help Ventures Fund and Community Preservation Corporation. Together, these three nonprofit financial institutions bring a decades-long track record of successfully raising and deploying $30 billion in capital with a focus on low-income and disadvantaged communities. Climate United Fund’s program will focus on investing in harder-to-reach market segments like consumers, small businesses, small farms, community facilities, and schools—with at least 60% of its investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities, 20% in rural communities, and 10% in Tribal communities.
     
  • Coalition for Green Capital ($5 billion award), a nonprofit with almost 15 years of experience helping establish and work with dozens of state, local, and nonprofit green banks that have already catalyzed $20 billion into qualified projects—and that have a pipeline of $30 billion of demand for green bank capital that could be coupled with more than twice that in private investment. The Coalition for Green Capital’s program will have particular emphasis on public-private investing and will leverage the existing and growing national network of green banks as a key distribution channel for investment—with at least 50% of investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
     
  • Power Forward Communities ($2 billion award), a nonprofit coalition formed by five of the country’s most trusted housing, climate, and community investment groups that is dedicated to decarbonizing and transforming American housing to save homeowners and renters money, reinvest in communities, and tackle the climate crisis. The coalition members—Enterprise Community Partners, LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity, and United Way—will draw on their decades of experience, which includes deploying over $100 billion in community-based initiatives and investments, to build and lead a national financing program providing customized and affordable solutions for single-family and multi-family housing owners and developers—with at least 75% of investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

 
Through the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA), selected applicants will establish hubs that provide funding and technical assistance to community lenders working to finance clean technology projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities—leading to near-term deployment of climate and clean energy projects while building the capacity of community lenders to finance projects at scale for years to come. 100 percent of CCIA funds will flow to low-income and disadvantaged communities. The five selectees of the CCIA are:

  • Opportunity Finance Network ($2.29 billion award), a ~40-year-old nonprofit CDFI Intermediary that provides capital and capacity building for a national network of 400+ community lenders—predominantly U.S. Treasury-certified CDFI Loan Funds—which collectively hold $42 billion in assets and serve all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories.
     
  • Inclusiv ($1.87 billion award), a ~50-year-old nonprofit CDFI Intermediary that provides capital and capacity building for a national network of 900+ mission-driven, regulated credit unions—which include CDFIs and financial cooperativas in Puerto Rico—that collectively manage $330 billion in assets and serve 23 million individuals across the country.
     
  • Native CDFI Network ($400 million award), a nonprofit that serves as national voice and advocate for the 60+ U.S. Treasury-certified Native CDFIs, which have a presence in 27 states across rural reservation communities as well as urban communities and have a mission to address capital access challenges in Native communities.
     
  • Justice Climate Fund ($940 million award), a purpose-built nonprofit supported by an existing ecosystem of coalition members, a national network of more than 1,200 community lenders, and ImpactAssets—an experienced nonprofit with $3 billion under management—to provide responsible, clean energy-focused capital and capacity building to community lenders across the country.
     
  • Appalachian Community Capital ($500 million award), a nonprofit CDFI with a decade of experience working with community lenders in Appalachian communities, which is launching the Green Bank for Rural America to deliver clean capital and capacity building assistance to hundreds of community lenders working in coal, energy, underserved rural, and Tribal communities across the United States.

 
Expanding Access to Clean Energy
 
Today’s historic Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund announcement builds on a range of innovative tools and programs in President Biden’s Investing in America agenda that aim to empower the communities that can benefit most from new investments to take an active role in building the clean energy economy. These programs leverage a range of approaches to make it easier and more affordable for states, cities, Tribes, schools, nonprofit organizations, and businesses of all sizes to build, own, and benefit from cost-saving clean energy projects, invest in energy efficiency improvements, expand access to clean transportation, and participate fully in decisions that affect underserved communities and populations.
 
For example:

  • In March, the Treasury Department finalized rules for direct pay—a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that enables, for the first time, tax-exempt entities like states, cities, Tribes, counties, territories, nonprofit organizations, public schools, hospitals, rural electric co-operatives, and more to access clean energy tax credits and fully participate in building and owning new clean energy projects. For example:
     
  • To meet its goal of 100% carbon free operations by 2030, the City of Madison, Wisconsin is planning to access $13 million via direct pay to support transitioning their municipal fleet to low and no-carbon vehicles, as well as for solar and geothermal energy projects.
     
  • The City of San Antonio, Texas is taking advantage of direct pay to build and own the largest municipal onsite solar project in Texas. This $30 million project will install roof top, parking, and park canopy solar photovoltaic systems at 42 city facilities to lower their energy costs and energy consumption and make progress toward their goal of achieving net-zero energy for all municipal buildings by 2040.
     
  • The Inflation Reduction Act’s transferability provision allows businesses to transfer all or a portion of certain clean energy tax credits to a third-party in exchange for cash, so that small businesses, start-ups, and other entities without sufficient tax liability may still take advantage of the credits. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has already registered more than 45,000 new projects seeking to benefit from this new tool, which is lowering financing costs for clean energy projects and helping accelerate the buildout of the clean energy economy.
     
  • The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit program created by the Inflation Reduction Act promotes cost-saving clean energy investments in low-income communities, on Tribal lands, as part of affordable housing developments, and that benefit low-income households by providing a 10 to 20 percentage point bonus credit for up to 1.8 GW of small clean energy projects per year. In the first year of the program, the administration received more than 46,000 applications for allocations, signaling robust market demand to build projects serving low-income communities. The second year of the program will open for applications later this spring.
     
  • In March, the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) offered its first conditional commitment through the Tribal Energy Financing Program, which was expanded and provided new loan authority by the Inflation Reduction Act to support tribal entities in building out energy infrastructure. LPO announced up to $72.8 million for a partial loan guarantee to finance the development of a solar-plus long-duration energy storage microgrid on the Tribal lands of the Viejas Band of the Kumeyaay Indians near Alpine, California. 
     
  • Last week, LPO offered its first conditional commitment through the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program under Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Section 1706, first authorized and appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act, to finance projects that retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or enable operating energy infrastructure to reduce pollution. These projects direct new investment in historical energy communities that have powered our nation for over a century. Last week’s offer of a conditional commitment of up to $1.52 billion for a loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades will finance the restoration and resumption of service of an 800-MW electric nuclear generating station in Covert Township, Michigan that closed in May 2022 and upgrade it to produce baseload clean power for decades to come. 
     
  • Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Acting Secretary Todman traveled to Chicago to announce that the Department has now awarded more than half of the nearly $1 billion provided through the Inflation Reduction Act to make homes more energy-efficient, comfortable, and climate resilient for low-income Americans. The Green and Resilient Retrofit Program makes grants and loans to finance energy and climate renovations in HUD-assisted multifamily housing for low-income individuals, families, and seniors.
     
  • Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested more than $1.8 billion through their Rural Energy for America Program, which provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding for rural small businesses and agricultural producers to adopt clean energy and save money. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act invests more than $2 billion to expand this program, and USDA just announced the latest tranche of over $120 million in awards for projects in 44 states last week.
     
  • In December 2023, EPA announced 11 grant makers to receive $600 million from the Inflation Reduction Act through the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program to offer subgrants for environmental justice projects to local community-based organizations around the country. This new program is designed to make it easier for small community-based organizations to access federal environmental justice funding and responds to feedback about the need to reduce barriers to federal funds and improve the efficiency of the awards process to benefit underserved communities. 
     

In November 2023, EPA announced approximately $2 billion in funding available to support community-driven projects that deploy clean energy, strengthen climate resilience, and build capacity for communities to tackle environmental and climate justice challenges. The Community Change Grants Program is the single largest investment in environmental justice going directly to communities in history, and will advance collaborative efforts to achieve a healthier, safer, and more prosperous future for all. 

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Economic Development, Energy, Jobs, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Bidenomics is Boosting Clean Energy Manufacturing for Offshore Wind and Creating Good-Paying American Union Jobs and Advancing a Clean-Energy Economy

Peoples Climate March, Washington DC April 29, 2017. President Biden is making historic investments in transitioning to a clean energy future, against opposition by Republicans © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden visited Philly Shipyard, where union workers are building a new offshore wind vessel as part of continued manufacturing boom—while Republicans in Congress voted to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and continue to try to block clean energy progress. This is a fact sheet from the White House on how Bidenomics is boosting clean energy manufacturing for offshore wind, which is creating well-paying union jobs in America that cannot be outsourced, while advancing the transition to a clean-energy economy to stem the existential impacts of climate change—Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com 

President Biden’s economic agenda—Bidenomics— is fueling America’s clean energy future, creating American-made products in American factories with American workers, and attracting more than $500 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments, including in the offshore wind industry. President Biden visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a steel-cutting ceremony at the Philly Shipyard for the first offshore wind vessel of its kind to be Made in America and Jones Act compliant, employing over 1,000 workers across nine unions to build the vessel, using steel plates made by the United Steelworkers in Indiana, and generating an estimated $125 million of U.S. economic activity each year. This project is another example of how Bidenomics is growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.
 
Under President Biden’s leadership, the American offshore wind industry is rapidly expanding—creating good-paying union jobs across the manufacturing, shipbuilding, and construction sectors. Since President Biden took office, companies have announced 18 offshore wind shipbuilding projects as well as investments of nearly $3.5 billion across 12 manufacturing facilities and 13 ports to strengthen the American offshore wind supply chain, representing thousands of new jobs. New data released shows there are more than 4,100 companies in all 50 states that are looking to support the U.S. offshore wind industry, up 54% since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act.

President Biden also announced the first-ever Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease sale. This is the latest in a broad set of actions by the Biden-Harris Administration to build 30 gigawatts of offshore wind projects by 2030—enough to power more than 10 million homes with clean energy. A key pillar of Bidenomics, President Biden’s Investing in America agenda will help create offshore wind jobs across the country, including through tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act to support Made in America wind turbines and ships.

However, if Republicans in Congress had their way, their states would have lost out on billions of dollars in investments, jobs, and opportunity. In Pennsylvania alone, companies have committed to invest approximately $2 billion in manufacturing and clean energy investments since President Biden took office. Yet nearly every Republican Member of the House voted again to overturn the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits in April 2023—doubling down on their opposition at a time when manufacturers were investing in their state.
 
Bidenomics is Catalyzing America’s Clean Energy and Offshore Wind Industry

As part of President Biden’s historic actions to build a clean energy economy, the Biden-Harris Administration has jumpstarted an American offshore wind industry that will strengthen the nation’s energy security, make the power grid more reliable while lowering energy costs, and reduce dangerous climate pollution. The Biden-Harris Administration’s actions to advance responsible offshore wind deployment are creating opportunities up and down the supply chain. A report released today by the Business Network for Offshore Wind shows the immense growth of the U.S. offshore wind industry since President Biden took office, with the Inflation Reduction Act catalyzing further progress:

  • Since January 2021, investments in the U.S. offshore wind industry have quadrupled from $5 billion to $21.6 billion, including growth of $7.7 billion since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. These totals reflect investments across specific project lease areas as well as the supply chain, port and transmission infrastructure, and workforce development needed to support the industry.
     
  • More than 4,100 companies across all 50 states have joined a supplier registry to express interest in providing components and services to the offshore wind industry—169% growth since President Biden took office and up 54% since he signed the Inflation Reduction Act.
     
  • The U.S. offshore wind industry now includes nearly 1,500 contracts for work in the growing American market, growth of 272% since President Biden took office and up 47% since he signed the Inflation Reduction Act, with 90% of these contracts going to companies that are either U.S. headquartered or have a U.S. presence.
     

This nationwide growth reflects jobs up and down the offshore wind supply chain and across the country. For example, today’s steel-cutting ceremony at the Philly Shipyard launches the construction of the Acadia, the first-ever Jones Act compliant vessel for offshore wind subsea rock installation—a contract that was announced as a direct result of the Administration’s clean energy agenda. This vessel will be crewed by American mariners and take rocks from American quarries to protect the foundations of offshore wind projects that produce American clean energy. Additional supply chain progress includes:

  • New and expanded ports and manufacturing facilities: Today the Department of Energy (DOE) published an updated map of offshore wind supply chain investments announced just since President Biden took office, including nearly $3.5 billion across 12 manufacturing facilities and 13 ports—representing major new economic opportunities across not just the East Coast, but also in the Midwest and along the Gulf of Mexico and West Coast. Under President Biden, the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) has awarded more than $100 million for port projects to support offshore wind development, through the Port Infrastructure Development Program expanded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
     
  • Vessel construction across multiple states: Since President Biden took office, companies have also announced investments to build 18 offshore wind vessels across states including Florida, Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Last year, MARAD announced the designation of offshore wind vessels as Vessels of National Interest for priority consideration under the Federal Ship Financing Program. Since then, MARAD has received and advanced reviews of applications for a variety of offshore wind vessel types.
     
  • Steel manufacturing boosts to support offshore wind industry: Recent announcements include an investment of $145 million to upgrade a steel facility in Mingo Junction, Ohio—following previously announced upgrades of $260 million for a steel plate mill in Baytown, Texas—to serve the offshore wind industry and the broader clean energy industry; a new advanced component steel facility in Baltimore that will construct and assemble offshore wind components using steel prefabricated at Maryland facilities; and an additional contract for a facility in western New York to provide specialized structural steelwork for the Revolution Wind and South Fork Wind projects. 

 
Earlier this year at the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum in Baltimore, White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi outlined ten ways the Administration is making progress toward the goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. Recent progress made by the Biden-Harris Administration toward this goal includes:

  • New Lease Areas: Today the Department of the Interior (DOI) is issuing the final sale notice for the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, which will take place on August 29. This historic sale—with enough clean energy potential to power almost 1.3 million homes—will include one lease area of 102,480 acres offshore Lake Charles, Louisiana, and two lease areas totaling nearly 200,000 acres offshore Galveston, Texas. This sale will follow the Administration’s offshore wind sales in the New York Bight, Carolina Long Bay, and northern and central California, as well as yesterday’s announcement that DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed another step in reviewing a potential offshore wind research lease in the Gulf of Maine.
     
  • Efficient and Responsible Permitting: Earlier this week, BOEM completed environmental analysis of the proposed Revolution Wind project offshore Rhode Island. If approved, it could power more than 300,000 homes with clean energy. This permitting milestone follows BOEM’s final construction approval earlier this month for the nation’s third large-scale offshore wind project, Ocean Wind 1 off the coast of New Jersey, which is expected to create more than 3,000 good-paying jobs. Other recent progress includes draft Environmental Impact Statements for six additional projects: Empire Wind, Sunrise Wind, Coastal Virginia Wind (CVOW), New England Wind, SouthCoast Wind, and Atlantic Shores South. In total, BOEM and cooperating agencies are on track to complete reviews of at least 16 project plans by 2025, representing more than 27 gigawatts of clean energy. The Administration is holding projects to high standards for community engagement and environmental protection, including work by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to ensure protection of coastal and marine resources, and requiring offshore wind projects to adopt extensive monitoring and mitigation measures that reduce the potential for impacts to protected species.
     
  • Construction Milestones: The nation’s first two large-scale offshore wind projects, approved by the Biden-Harris Administration, are both being built by union labor and achieved “steel in the water” by starting to install foundations last month. These projects will provide a wide range of benefits. For example, Vineyard Wind offshore Massachusetts will create enough clean electricity to power 400,000 homes, save customers $1.4 billion on their utility bills over 20 years, and reduce climate pollution by more than 1.5 million metric tons each year—the equivalent of taking 325,000 gas cars off the road—while creating 3,600 good-paying jobs. South Fork Wind offshore New York is using high-tech cables made in Charleston, South Carolina at a new factory, an electrical substation engineered in Kansas and fabricated in Texas, and a service operations vessel being built at shipyards in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, with components sourced from across 34 states.
Biden Administration, Climate Change, Energy, Jobs, Manufacturing

FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Announces New Private and Public Sector Investments for Affordable Electric Vehicles

President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is unleashing a manufacturing and clean energy boom and accelerating the production of affordable electric vehicles. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is unleashing a manufacturing and clean energy boom and accelerating the production of affordable electric vehicles. The White House provided this fact sheet: 

As part of President Biden’s goal of having 50 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, the White House is announcing the first set of public and private commitments to support America’s historic transition to electric vehicles (EV) under the EV Acceleration Challenge. These commitments are part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to spur domestic manufacturing, strengthen supply chains, boost U.S. competitiveness and create good-paying jobs. Because of President Biden’s leadership and historic investments, electric vehicle sales have tripled and the number of publicly available charging ports has grown by over 40 percent since he took office. There are now more than three million EVs on the road and over 132,000 public EV chargers across the country.  
 
President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act adds and expands tax credits for purchases of new and used EVs—helping bring the benefits of clean energy to communities across the nation. The law also provides incentives to electrify heavy-duty vehicles like clean school buses, and includes support for the installation of residential, commercial, and municipal EV charging infrastructure. These incentives complement investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other federal initiatives that are spurring the domestic manufacturing of EVs and batteries and the development of a national EV charging network that provides access to low income and disadvantaged communities.  
 
These incentives will lower the cost of EVs and EV charging infrastructure; increase consumer demand and competition; promote equity and inclusion; and accelerate the growth of the EV market. The White House announced the EV Acceleration Challenge to bring a clean, safe, affordable, and reliable transportation future to Americans even faster.
 
Today, the Federal Government, as well as a number of companies and nonprofits including Prologis, First Student, Hertz, Amazon, Google, Rewiring America, and others, are announcing new commitments to expand EV fleets, increase consumer education, and grow the availability of EV charging.  
 
Today, the Federal Government is announcing: 

  • Federal agencies have already acquired 13,000 light- and medium-duty zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) in FY23—about four times the number of ZEVs acquired in FY22. President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan requires federal agencies to transition the largest fleet in the world to all electric by acquiring 100 percent light-duty ZEVs annually by 2027 and acquiring 100 percent medium- and heavy-duty ZEVs annually by 2035.  
     
  • Federal agencies are committing to deploy an additional 24,000 charging stations at Federal facilities by the next fiscal year, adding to the more than 5,000 charging stations already installed at Federal facilities nationwide. 
     
  • The Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuel Data Center is planning to add two new features to its Station Locator Tool that will help consumers charge their EVs quickly, affordably and conveniently. The tool will soon offer:
    • Charging cost: The cost to charge an EV at an individual charging station.
       
    • Charging speed: The charging speed or power output at the charger port level. 

 
ACCELERATING THE EV TRANSITION 
 
The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda has spurred public and private sector commitments to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. State and local governments are also leveraging federal funds to expand electrification of their vehicle fleets. These announcements build on the EV charging network expansion and manufacturing announcements highlighted by the White House in February, which will add more than 100,000 public chargers across the country. Announcements being spotlighted today fall into four categories: Consumer Education and Support, Tools and Resources, EV Fleet Expansion, and Community Charging: Commercial and Multifamily: 
 
Fleet Expansion 

  • First Student, a major supplier of school bus services, is committing to transition 30,000 fossil fuel-powered school buses to electric school buses by 2035. 
     
  • Cirba Solutions, a battery materials and management company, is committing to process end-of-life batteries and Gigafactory manufacturing scrap, creating enough battery-materials to equip 1,000,000 EVs by 2028. 
     
  • Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company, is committing to deploy the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE across all of its ride-hailing service territories this spring and retire its previous generation platform.  
     
  • Amazon is announcing it has rolled out over 3,000 electric delivery vehicles as part of its commitment to bring 100,000 electric delivery vehicles to the road by 2030.
     
  • Trane Technologies, a company focused on efficient and sustainable climate solutions for buildings, homes and transportation, is committing to transition 100 percent of its global fleet of more than 8,000 vehicles, including service vans and trucks, to all electric vehicles by 2030. 

Community Charging: Commercial and Multifamily  

  • Prologis, a major global developer and owner of logistics real estate with more than 3,400 properties in the US, is committing to make every new eligible Prologis development ready for EV charging and transition its U.S. maintenance vehicle fleet to 100 percent alternative fuel vehicles by 2030. 
     
  • Siemens is committing to install charging stations across the U.S. at its facilities and employees’ homes to support the electric conversion of its 10,000-vehicle fleet by 2030 and to set a requirement that 10% of parking spaces include EV charging stations at all new company facility construction projects. 
     
  • CALSTART, Forth, the Electrification Coalition, EVHybridNoire and peer national implementation partners are committing to launch the Charge@Work campaign and Electric Vehicle Adoption Leadership (EVAL) certification program in Fall 2023 which will engage over 50,000 employers\workplaces, representing hundreds of thousands of employees, with the end goal of catalyzing over 100,000 electric vehicle workplace charging stations. 
     
  • SWTCH, an EV charging provider, is committing to expand equitable access to EV charging in underserved communities by deploying over 20,000 EV chargers, the majority of which will serve multi-family buildings, by 2024.  
     
  • Rocky Mountain Institute is committing to launch a multi-family charging accelerator pilot in three states to scale multi-unit dwelling charging infrastructure financing and deployment nationwide in 2024. 

Consumer Education and Support 

  • Hertz is committing to substantially increase its electric vehicle rentals this year forecasting nearly two million EV rentals in 2023, approximately five times the number of EV rentals in 2022, and extending the electric vehicle experience to leisure and business travelers and rideshare drivers across the country.  
     
  • Consumer Reports is committing to delivering expert advice and unbiased information for people who are considering whether to make the shift to an electric vehicle through its new online tool called the Electric Vehicle Savings Finder. It provides detailed, up-to-date information about federal, state, and local EV purchase incentives available to consumers, specific to where they live. 
     
  • GreenLatinos, Hip Hop Caucus, Sierra Club, Clean Energy for America, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Electric Transportation Community Development Corporation, National Religious Partnership for the Environment, Plug in America, Public Citizen, Union of Concerned Scientists, Electric Vehicle Association, League of Conservation Voters, Coltura, and the Natural Resources Defense Council are committing to launch Route Zero in April – a cross-country, relay style campaign highlighting the investments made in EV infrastructure and EV manufacturing around the country, focusing on how equitable EV deployment helps mitigate pollution harms. 
     
  • Sierra Club, Plug in America, the Electric Vehicle Association and EVHybridNoire are committing to host more than 300 events in 2023 to celebrate the shift to electric vehicles, including the opportunity to connect with EV drivers in their own communities, ask questions, and get behind the wheel to try EVs out. 
     
  • Mercedes-Benz is committing to launch “Electric Dream Days,” a new EV marketing campaign with retail events at dealerships and EV test drives in April 2023.   

Tools and Resources 

  • Rewiring America, a non-profit organization, is committing to launch an online personal electrification planner in 2023 with the initial goal of helping 100,000 homeowners and renters create roadmaps to electrify their homes and to choose electric vehicles and home chargers. 
     
  • Google is committing to provide up-to-date information about availability and coverage of tax credits across eligible passenger vehicles, through a new Search tool that incorporates federal guidance to surface eligible EV tax credits, alongside other critical information.
     
  • Plug in America, a non-profit organization, is committing to reach 250,000 consumers over the next year with PlugStar.com, its online EV information and shopping tool. 
     
  • Wells Fargo is releasing a new tool to support business leaders transitioning to electric vehicle fleets by modeling deployment that incorporates the cost of electrification, tax credits, cost savings, and environmental benefits. 
     
  • The American Public Transportation Association and the Edison Electric Institute are committing to develop and distribute a new resource for transit agencies to streamline their efforts to electrify their bus fleets.  

The EV Acceleration Challenge is accepting submissions on a rolling basis. The White House will be highlighting additional commitments soon including many more that were already submitted.
 
Organizations can submit a commitment on the EV Acceleration Challenge landing page.

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Democrats, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Economy, News & Photo Features

STATE FACT SHEETS:
How the Inflation Reduction Act Lowers Energy Costs, Creates Jobs, and Tackles Climate Change Across America

The White House released state fact sheets highlighting how the Inflation Reduction Act tackles the climate crisis in states across the country and how families and communities can benefit from a clean energy future, like providing tax credits covering 30% of the costs to install solar panels and battery storage systems, make home improvements that reduce energy leakage, or upgrade heating and cooling equipment © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Today, the White House released state fact sheets highlighting how the Inflation Reduction Act tackles the climate crisis in states across the country and how families and communities can benefit from a clean energy future. The fact sheet outlines how families can save on their utility bills, get tax credits for electric vehicles and energy-saving appliances, and access the economic opportunities of the clean energy future.
 
President Biden and Congressional Democrats beat back special interests to pass this historic legislation, delivering the most significant action in U.S. history to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen U.S. energy security. By signing the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden is delivering on his promise to lower energy costs, create good-paying jobs, and deliver a clean, secure, and healthy future for families across America.
 
Fact Sheets by State:

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Democrats, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Economy, Health Care, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features

Biden Signs Historic Inflation Reduction Act:  ‘It’s about tomorrow. It’s about delivering progress and prosperity to American families’

Here is an edited, highlighted transcript of President Joe Biden’s remarks as he signed the Inflation Reduction Act, with historic investments in climate action, long-fought improvements in health care and prescription drug affordability, tax reform and deficit reduction, and in the immortal words of Biden as Obama’s VP, a “BFD.” –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Joe Biden signs the historic, transformative Inflation Reduction Act, saying “It’s about tomorrow. It’s about delivering progress and prosperity to American families.” The act makes historic investments in climate action, long-fought improvements in health care and prescription drug affordability, tax reform and deficit reduction, and in the immortal words of Biden as Obama’s VP, a “BFD.” (via C-Span)

I’m about to sign the Inflation Reduction Act into law, one of the most significant laws in our history.  Let me say from the start: With this law, the American people won and the special interests lost.  The American people won and the special interests lost. 

For a while, people doubted whether any of that was going to happen. But we are in a season of substance.  This administration began amid a dark time in America — as Jim said, “a once-in-a-century pandemic” — devastating joblessness, clear and present threats to democracy and the rule of law, doubts about America’s future itself.  

And yet, we’ve not wavered.  We’ve not flinched.  And we’ve not given in.  Instead, we’re delivering results for the American people.  We didn’t tear down; we built up.  We didn’t look back; we looked forward.

And today — today offers further proof that the soul of America is vibrant, the future of America is bright, and the promise of America is real and just beginning.  (Applause.) 

Look, the bill I’m about to sign is not just about today, it’s about tomorrow.  It’s about delivering progress and prosperity to American families.

It’s about showing the American and the American people that democracy still works in America — notwithstanding all the — all the talk of its demise — not just for the privileged few, but for all of us.

You know, I swore an oath of office to you and to God to faithfully execute the duties of this sacred office.

To me, the critical duty — the critical duty of the presidency is to defend what is best about America.  And that’s not hyperbole.  Defend what’s best about America.  To pursue justice, to ensure fairness, and to deliver results that create possibilities — possibilities that all of us — all of us can live a life of consequence and prosperity in a nation that’s safe and secure.  That’s the job.  

Fulfilling that pledge to you guides me every single hour of every single day in this job.  

You know, presidents should be judged not only by our words, but by our deeds; not by our rhetoric, but by our actions; not by our promise, but by reality.  

And today is part of an extraordinary story that’s being written by this administration and our brave allies in the Congress.

This law — this law that I’m about to sign finally delivers on a promise that Washington has made for decades to the American people.  

I got here as a 29-year-old kid.  We were promising to make sure that Medicare would have the power to negotiate lower drug prices back then — back then — prescription drug prices.  

But guess what?  We’re giving Medicare the power to negotiate those prices now, on some drugs.

This means seniors are going to pay less for their prescription drugs while we’re changing circumstances for people on Medicare by putting a cap — a cap of a maximum of $2,000 a year on their prescription drug costs, no matter what the reason for those prescriptions are.

That means if you’re on Medicare, you’ll never have to pay more than $2,000 a year no matter how many prescriptions you have, whether it’s for cancer or any other disease.  No more than $2,000 a year.

And you all know it because a lot of you come from families that need this.  This is a Godsend.  This is a Godsend to many families and so, so long overdue. 


The Inflation Reduction Act locks in place lower healthcare premiums for millions of families who get their coverage under the Affordable Care Act.  

Last year, a family of four saved on average $2,400 through the American Rescue Plan that I signed into law that Congress voted in place.

In the years ahead, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, 13 million people are going to continue — continue to save an average of $800 a year on health insurance.

The Inflation Reduction Act invests $369 billion to take the most aggressive action ever — ever, ever, ever — in confronting the climate crisis and strengthening our economic — our energy security.

It’s going to offer working families thousands of dollars in savings by providing them rebates to buy new and efficient appliances, weatherize their homes, get tax credit for purchasing heat pumps and rooftop solar, electric stoves, ovens, dryers.
 
It gives consumers a tax credit to buy electric vehicles or fuel cell vehicles, new or used.  And it gives them a credit — a tax credit of up to $7,500 if those vehicles were made in America. 

American auto companies, along with American labor, are committing their treasure and their talent — billions of dollars in investment — to make electric vehicles and battery and electric charging stations all across America, made in America.  All of it made in America.

This new law also provides tax credits that’s going to create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and clean energy manufacturing jobs, solar factories in the Midwest and the South, wind farms across the plains and off our shores, clean hydrogen projects and more — all across America, every part of America.

This bill is the biggest step forward on climate ever — ever — and it’s going to allow us to boldly take additional steps toward meeting all of my climate goals — the ones we set out when we ran.

It includes ensuring that we create clean energy opportunities in frontline and fence-line communities that have been smothered — smothered by the legacy of pollution, and fight environmental injustice that’s been going on for so long.

And here’s another win for the American people: In addition to cutting the deficit by $350 billion last year, in my first year in office, and cutting it $1.7 trillion this year, this fiscal year, we’re going to cut the deficit — I point out — by another $300 billion with the Inflation Reduction Act over the next decade.

We’re cutting deficit to fight inflation by having the wealthy and big corporations finally begin to pay part of their fair share.

Big corporations will now pay a minimum 15 percent tax instead of 55 of them got away with paying zero dollars in federal income tax on $40 billion in profit. 

And I’m keeping my campaign commitment: No one — let me emphasize — no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay a penny more in federal taxes.  (Applause.) 

Folks, the Inflation Reduction Act does so many things that, for so many years, so many of us have fought to make happen.

And let’s be clear: In this historic moment, Democrats sided with the American people, and every single Republican in the Congress sided with the special interests in this vote — every single one.

In fact, the big drug companies spent nearly $100 million to defeat this bill.  A hundred million dollars.

And remember: Every single Republican in Congress voted against this bill. 

Every single Republican in Congress voted against lowering prescription drug prices, against lowering healthcare costs, against a fairer tax system.

Every single Republican — every single one — voted against tackling the climate crisis, against lowering our energy costs, against creating good-paying jobs.

My fellow Americans, that’s the choice we face: We can protect the already-powerful or show the courage to build a future where everybody has an even shot.

That’s the America I believe in.  (Applause.)  That’s what I believe in. 

And today — and today, we’ve come a step closer to making that America real.

Today, too often we confuse noise with substance.  Too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.  Too often we hand the biggest microphone to the critics and the cynics who delight in declaring failure while those committed to making real progress do the hard work of governing.

Making progress in this country as big and complicated as ours clearly is not easy.  It’s never been easy.

But with unwavering conviction, commitment, and patience, progress does come…

And when it does, like today, people’s lives are made better and the future becomes brighter, and a nation can be transformed.

That’s what’s happening now.  From the American Rescue Plan that helped create nearly 10 million new jobs, to a once-in-a-generation infrastructure law that will rebuild America’s roads, bridges, ports; deliver clean water, high-speed Internet to every American; to the first meaningful gun safety law in 30 years — and if I have anything to do with it, we’re still going to have an assault weapons ban, but that’s another story.  And to get significant veterans’ healthcare law in decades, for the first time; to a groundbreaking CHIPS and Science Law that’s going to ensure that technologies and jobs of the future are made here in America — in America.

(Applause.) 

And all this progress is part of our vision and plan and determined effort to get the job done for the American people, so they can look their child in the eye and say, “Honey, it’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

Everything is going to make sure that democracy delivers for your generation.  Because I think that’s at stake.

And, now, I know there are those here today who hold a dark and despairing view of this country.  I’m not one of them.

I believe in the promise of America.  I believe in the future of this country.  I believe in the very soul of this nation.  And most of all, I believe in you, the American people.

I believe to my core there isn’t a single thing this country cannot do when we put our mind to it.  We just have to remember who we are.  We are the United States of America.

There is nothing nothing beyond our capacity. That’s why so many foreign companies decided to invest their — make chips in America. Billions of dollars.  We’re the best.  We have to believe in ourselves again.

And now I’m going to take action that I’ve been looking forward to doing for 18 months.  (Laughter and applause.)  I’m going to sign the Inflation Reduction Law.  (Applause.)

Okay.  Here you go. (The bill is signed.)

LEADER SCHUMER:  It’s now law.

(Applause.)

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Economic Policies, Economy, Health Care, News & Photo Features

The Inflation Reduction Act by the Numbers: What it Means to You

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s effort to transition the economy to clean, renewable energy, families that take advantage of clean energy and electric vehicle tax credits will save more than $1,000 per year. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Joe Biden will sign the Inflation Reduction Act today, a distillation of what Americans have been clamoring for, for the past 30 years. It includes the most significant investment in climate action, plus health care and tax reform while also amazingly reducing the deficit. Here’s what the Inflation Reduction Act will mean to you, by the numbers. This is from the White House:

The Inflation Reduction Act will lower costs for families, combat the climate crisis, reduce the deficit, and finally ask the largest corporations to pay their fair share. President Biden and Congressional Democrats have worked together to deliver a historic legislative achievement that defeats special interests, delivers for American families, and grows the economy from the bottom up and middle out.
 
Here’s how the Inflation Reduction Act impacts Americans by the numbers:
 
HEALTH CARE
 
Cutting Prescription Drug Costs

  • Today, Americans pay two to three times what citizens of other countries pay for prescription drugs
  • 5-7 million Medicare beneficiaries could see their prescription drug costs go down because of the provision allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs.
  • 50 million Americans with Medicare Part D will have the peace of mind knowing their costs at the pharmacy are capped at $2,000 per year, directly benefiting about 1.4 million beneficiaries each year.
  • 3.3 million Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes will benefit from a guarantee that their insulin costs are capped at $35 for a month’s supply.

 
Lowering Health Care Costs

  • 13 million Americans will continue to save an average of $800 per year on health insurance premiums
  • 3 million more Americans will have health insurance than without the law.
  • The uninsured rate is at an all-time low of 8%, which the historic law will build on.

 
Defeating Special Interests

  • $187 million: The amount the Pharmaceutical industry has spent on lobbying in 2022.
  • 1,600: number of lobbyists the pharmaceutical companies had in 2021 – three times the number of Members of Congress
  • 33 years: the amount of time Congressional Democrats have been trying to lower prescription drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
  • 19 years: number of years Medicare has been blocked from negotiating prescription drug costs

 
CLEAN ENERGY
 
Lowering Energy Costs

  • Families that take advantage of clean energy and electric vehicle tax credits will save more than $1,000 per year.
  • $14,000 in direct consumer rebates for families to buy heat pumps or other energy efficient home appliances, saving families at least $350 per year.
  • 7.5 million more families will be able install solar on their roofs with a 30% tax credit, saving families $9,000 over the life of the system or at least $300 per year.
  • Up to $7,500 in tax credits for new electric vehicles and $4,000 for used electric vehicles, helping families save $950 per year.
  • Putting America on track to meet President Biden’s climate goals, which will save every family an average of $500 per year on their energy costs.

 
Building a Clean Energy Economy

  • Power homes, businesses, and communities with much more clean energy by 2030, including:
    • 950 million solar panels
    • 120,000 wind turbines
    • 2,300 grid-scale battery plants
  • Advance cost-saving clean energy projects at rural electric cooperatives serving 42 million people.
  • Strengthen climate resilience and protect nearly 2 million acres of national forests.
  • Creating millions of good-paying jobs making clean energy in America.

 
Reducing Harmful Pollution

  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 1 gigaton in 2030, or a billion metric tons – 10 times more climate impact than any other single piece of legislation ever enacted.
  • Deploy clean energy and reduce particle pollution from fossil fuels to avoid up to 3,900 premature deaths and up to 100,000 asthma attacks annually by 2030.

 
TAXES
 
Making the Tax Code Fairer

  • $0: how much some of largest, profitable corporations pay in federal income tax.
  • 55: the number of America’s largest, wealthiest corporations that got away without paying a cent in federal income taxes in 2020.
  • $160 billon: how much the top 1 percent of earners is estimated to evade each year in taxes.
  • 15%: the minimum tax on corporate profits the Inflation Reduction Act imposes on the largest, most profitable corporations.
  • $124 billion: savings over 10 years the Inflation Reduction Act will generate from collecting taxes already owed by wealthy people and large corporations, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
  • And no family making less than $400,000 will see their taxes go up a penny.

 
Reducing the Deficit

  • The Inflation Act will achieve hundreds of billions in deficit reduction.
  • The deficit is projected to fall by more than $1.5 trillion this year after falling by more than $350 billion last year.
  • 126 leading economists – including 7 Nobel Laureates, 2 former Treasury Secretaries, 2 former Fed Vice Chairs and 2 former CEA Chairs – have said reducing the deficit will help fight inflation and support strong, stable economic growth.