(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Bernie Sanders SLAMS the ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ saying it will have a “minimal impact on inflation.”

The senator says the “Inflation Reduction Act” is NOT going to stop inflation the way it’s being advertised.

Senate Democrats passed the spending bill in an attempt to tackle climate change, lower the high cost of prescription drugs, and reduce the deficit by roughly $300 billion.

You can read the full, 755-page bill HERE.

Late Saturday night and into Sunday morning, Senators voted on amendments to Democrats’ major spending bill that tackles health care, climate, and taxes.

ZERO Republicans voted for the bill.

The legislation was passed through the budget reconciliation process, meaning, all 50 Democrats and one tie-breaker vote from Vice President Harris were needed since none of the 50 Republican senators voted for the bill.

It also restricts the measures in the bill to those who directly change federal spending and revenue.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tore the Inflation Reduction Act apart for doing little to fight inflation and not enough to help Americans struggling to afford health care, child care, and housing.

“According to the Congressional Budget Office and other economic organizations that have studied this bill, it will have a minimal impact on inflation,” Sanders declared on the Senate floor to open debate on the 755-page bill, which will raise taxes on corporations, fight climate change and reduce some prescription drug costs.

Sanders argued the Democratic bill falls far short of what is needed when Americans are growing increasingly disillusioned with government and a tiny fraction of wealthy individuals and families own a hugely disproportionate share of the nation’s wealth.

“This legislation does not address any of their needs,” Sanders said. “This legislation does not address the reality that we have more income and wealth inequality today than at any time in the last hundred years.”

The bill does not address the fact that CEOs of major corporations make 350 times as much as their workers, or do more to improve the health care system, according to Sanders.

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Dr. Rahul Gupta, left, walks with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., at the White House (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“This bill does nothing to address the systemic dysfunctionality of the American health care system,” Sanders says.

He also noted the bill “as currently written does nothing” to address the nation’s rate of childhood poverty, a pointed reference to Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) opposition to including an extension of the expanded child tax credit which expired at the end of last year in the bill.   

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Bernie Sanders says the bill fails to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis.

“Yep, you guessed it. This bill does nothing to address the major housing crisis that we face or build one unit of safe and affordable housing. Just another issue that we push aside,” he said.

Sanders’s biggest problem with the legislation is that it doesn’t give Medicare enough authority to negotiate lower prescription drug prices.

He said, “the good news” is the bill would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry, but the “bad news” is the provision does not go into effect for four years, at which time only 10 drugs will be covered.

“This provision will have no impact on the prices for Americans not on Medicare. Those prices will continue to rise uncontrollably,” he said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022, a compromise less ambitious than Biden’s original domestic vision but one that still meets party goals of slowing global warming, moderating pharmaceutical costs, and taxing immense corporations. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Sanders’ Solution

Sen. Bernie Sanders will offer an amendment that would require Medicare to pay no more for prescription drugs than the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The proposal would save Medicare $900 billion over the next decade, according to Sanders.

The senator says he would use that money to lower the Medicare eligibility to age 60 and extend Medicare benefits to cover vision, dental care, and hearing.

Sanders plans to offer 3 additional amendments to the bill related to prescription drugs and Medicare.

One amendment would expand Medicare to provide dental, vision, and hearing benefits, another would provide $30 billion to establish a Civilian Conservation Corps to combat climate change, and a fourth would expand the $300 per month Child Tax Credit for the next five years.

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Joe Manchin

His arguments, however, are largely falling flat with Democratic senators who say they won’t vote for any amendments that could jeopardize the support of Manchin and fellow centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

A Democratic senator said Schumer has urged colleagues not to offer amendments to the bill that could upset the carefully crafted compromise he reached with Manchin and Sinema after weeks of negotiation.

One Democratic aide said Sanders’s insistence on voting on his amendments would delay the final passage of the bill.

Schumer has limited leverage over Sanders, who as chairman of the Budget Committee has the official role of managing the floor debate on the bill, which is being moved under special budgetary reconciliation rules to circumvent a GOP filibuster.

 

READ MORE: According to the Declaration of Independence, An “Insurrection” is PERFECTLY LEGAL!

ABOUT THE WRITER:

Elena Patestas is a journalist and writer for Valuetainment media. She attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and Adelphi University on Long Island, New York. She was born and raised in Roslyn, New York, and currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Elena is passionate about bringing positive change to our world and believes education is the root to solving many societal problems. After overcoming a chronic health condition, Elena became passionate about health and believes food is the key to preventing dis-ease and achieving optimum health.

Amongst her many goals, she hopes to bring positive, impactful change to our world to create a healthy, financially sound, and unified society.

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