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President Biden gave a speech to celebrate the passing of the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act where he took swipes at Republicans and was met with boos.
It came during his speech on Tuesday at the South Lawn of the White House where he celebrated the new law that passed on strictly partisan lines, with only Democrats voting for it, Mediaite reported
“The guy in charge of electing Republicans in the Senate, Rick Scott of Florida, proposed a plan –- I wish I had enough copies to hand — but go online and look at it. I really mean this. It’s serious because then they’re going to make -– you’re going to — hard for you to believe. Proposed a plan requiring Congress to vote on the future of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid every five years — it’s up for reauthorization,” the president said.
“And I want to remind you, you paid for your Social Security. Every single paycheck from the time you’re a kid, you paid for it. (Applause.) So every five years, Congress gets to vote, change, cut, reduce, or eliminate the entirety of Social Security.
“And it’s not just Social Security. Everything is — everything that — Senator Scott wants everything in the federal budget to be up for five years. Nothing permanent. Nothing. That includes veterans’ benefits, Pell Grants, everything else.,” he said.
“Look it up. It’s hard to believe. I would think I’m exaggerating if I didn’t look at it myself. And then along comes Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin,” the president said as the audience started to boo.
“As my mother would say, ‘God love him.’ He thinks five years is too long to wait. He wants to put to vote — Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every single year.
Let me remind you all again: You paid for Social Security. You paid for Medicare. It’s taken out of every single one of your paychecks. These guys never give up,” the president said.
“Well, guess what? We’re not going to give up either,” he said to applause.
“We are often told there’s nothing you can get done in Washington. Too often, we confuse noise with substance. Too often, we confuse setbacks with defeat. Too often, we hand the biggest microphones to the critics and cynics who delight in declaring failure while those committed to making real progress do the hard work of governing,” he said.
But as he celebrated the passing of the “Inflation Reduction Act” it is important to note that many experts, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, do not believe it is going to do anything to reduce inflation.
“Madam President, I want to take a moment to say a few words about the so-called inflation reduction that we are debating this evening,” the senator said as he tore into the legislation that he is, by all accounts, still going to vote for. “And I say so-called, by the way, because according to the CBO, and other economic organizations that study this bill, it will, in fact, have a minimal impact on inflation.”
The Democrats have touted that the legislation would give Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, but that provision does not start for four years at which time only 10 drugs will be covered.
“If anybody thinks that as a result of this bill we’re going to see lower prices for Medicare, you are mistaken. It ain’t going to happen next year, the year after, or the year after,” he said. “And by the way, given the incredible power of the pharmaceutical industry, I would suspect even money that they will figure out a way to get around this provision if it takes four years to implement. So this provision will have no impact on the prices for those Americans. Furthermore, this provision will have no impact on the prices for Americans who are not on Medicare.”
The senator shredded Republicans and Democrats for not being able to come together on legislation that would address the needs of Americans.
“The American people are tired. They are hurting and they are begging their elected officials to respond to their needs,” he said.
“The wages for the average American worker are lower today than they were 49 years ago, and clearly, the inflation of today is pushing the average person even further behind,” the senator said.
