Senator John Thune’s Weekly Column: A Laundry List of Bad Ideas

A Laundry List of Bad Ideas
By Sen. John Thune

Two years ago, Democrats in Congress passed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. At that time, they claimed that the bill would bring down inflation and reduce the budget deficit. Two years later, it’s clear that those promises haven’t come to pass.

To begin with, the bill’s title is outright deceptive. Even before it became law, it wasn’t expected to do much to combat inflation – inflation that Democrats created in the first place. Economists later agreed it did little, if anything, to combat the inflation crisis. And even President Biden acknowledged that the Inflation Reduction Act had “nothing to do with inflation.”

Democrats’ claim that it would reduce the deficit also proved to be untrue. The cost of the bill’s provisions has grown to such an extent that it’s not only not going to reduce the deficit, it’s likely to add to it.

The bill did, however, spend more than a trillion dollars on Green New Deal policies and hit conventional energy producers with burdensome tax hikes. It reads like a laundry list of wasteful spending, doling out taxpayer dollars for planting trees, purchasing zero-emission garbage trucks and postal delivery vehicles, and even grants for climate-related political activity.

Then there are the tax credits for well-off Americans to buy an electric vehicle. Perhaps the Biden administration’s signature environmental policy is effectively forcing the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), and the Inflation Reduction Act was a big part of that push. The other part – new regulations from the administration forcing automakers to electrify a huge portion of their fleets in the next few years – is driving up the cost of the law.

Besides the fact that many Americans have legitimate concerns about electric vehicles, or just don’t want one, the Biden administration’s push for EVs comes at a time when our electric grid is barely keeping up with existing demand. Plugging in millions of cars is sure to further strain our electrical grid and lead to higher prices, and possibly blackouts.

Of course, this was also the bill that funneled $80 billion in new funding to the Internal Revenue Service, most of which was earmarked for increased audits and enforcement to fund Democrats’ Green New Deal vision. And it also included price controls on prescription drugs, which one analysis projects will result in 135 fewer new drugs available to patients. We are already seeing that projection come true as multiple drug companies have halted new research as a result of the new law.

The Inflation Reduction Act not only did not address inflation, it’s contributing to a host of bad outcomes for the American people. It’s a laundry list of bad ideas, from unrealistic Green New Deal policies to costly taxes and irresponsible spending. And this bill represents only a portion of the reckless taxing and spending Democrats would like to do if they again have the power to do it.

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