WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) delivered opening remarks at today’s hearing on “Mandates, Meddling, and Mismanagement: The IRA’s Threat to Energy and Medicine.” In his remarks, Subcommittee Chairman Grothman highlighted how the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) failed to curb spending, increased taxes for average Americans, and benefited wealthy Democratic donors. At today’s hearing, the panel will hear from experts on how the IRA promoted waste, fraud, and abuse while doing nothing to actually lower inflation.
Below are Subcommittee Chairman Grothman’s remarks as prepared for delivery.
Welcome to this joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth and Energy Policy, and Economic Affairs, and the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services.
This is an exciting opportunity for us to address one of the most catastrophic pieces of legislation from the Biden-era: the Inflation Reduction Act, or “IRA.”
Despite its name, the Inflation Reduction Act did little to curb the brutal inflation caused by President Biden and congressional Democrats’ spending sprees.
The Congressional Budget Office even admitted that.
In reality, it was never about reducing inflation.
It was about pushing a “green” agenda to the benefit of Democrat allies.
The IRA expanded government, hindered innovation, and increased costs for Americans.
According to the Cato Institute, the bill may cost taxpayers as much as $1.97 trillion dollars over the next ten years.
This will increase the deficit by $300 billion dollars by 2033.
Some people might ask, why did the IRA cost so much?
The IRA contained billions of dollars in subsidies of “green” energy projects for Democrat allies and elites.
It’s corporate welfare for elite climate radicals.
The beneficiaries of its tax subsidies are overwhelmingly Democratic donors.
People like Al Gore, who have invested in green energy businesses like those being propped up by the IRA, are making exorbitant amounts of money off of it.
The IRA’s green energy tax credits don’t benefit the average American. They have gone to high income earners who were already planning on and could already afford installing solar panels or buying an electric vehicle.
Plus it only worsened our overcomplicated tax system.
With the additions made in the IRA, the tax code exceeded 4 million words and cost Americans $300 billion dollars annually in tax compliance.
I am pleased that many of these wasteful IRA tax subsidies are being eliminated or phased out in the Republican reconciliation bill.
As our witness Mr. Lieberman has said, these green subsidies deserve a “sledgehammer, not a scalpel.”
Proponents of the IRA claim that it makes health care more affordable for seniors.
Making Medicare Part D premiums higher for seniors is an odd way to do that.
The IRA does just that – it has resulted in more expensive Medicare plans and less plan options for seniors.
The IRA also extended pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies.
Due to this extension, American taxpayers are now subsidizing a family of four making $128,600 dollars.
These subsidies should not exist at all, let alone for families making a six-figure income.
As the economist Milton Friedman said, “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”
These Obamacare subsidies are currently set to expire at the end of this year, and Congress should let that happen.
Last November, our constituents sent us a clear message that it is high time to leave the Biden Administration’s reckless spending firmly in the past.
Today’s hearing is an opportunity to dissect the harm done by the Inflation Reduction Act and understand why many of its provisions must be repealed this Congress.