President Biden will hold a White House event on Sept. 6 to celebrate the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act as the White House plots ways to put its recent wins front-and-center before the midterm contests, top aides said Monday.
Mr. Biden will hold a Cabinet meeting in the coming weeks to elevate the legislation and travel the country to describe how the law could help Americans save money on prescription drugs, health care premiums and energy costs.
“For many administrations, August can be a momentum killer,” senior aides Jen O’Malley Dillon and Anita Dunn wrote to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. “For this team, August is going to be a momentum builder as we come out of last week — which featured a string of bill signings, gas prices back under $4, Sweden and Finland’s ascension to NATO, the House passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, and more — that underscored President Biden’s leadership.”
Cabinet members will travel to 23 states in more than 35 trips to promote the Inflation Reduction Act by the end of August, the memo said.
The White House said Mr. Biden plans to hold events that remind Americans of prior accomplishments, including the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS Act to spur semiconductor manufacturing and bipartisan work to overhaul gun laws.
Also, the administration will launch a website that gives Americans and businesses information about climate incentives and tax credits and breaks down policy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The administration is detailing a full-court press to win over public opinion as Democrats face an uncertain midterm season. Prognosticators say the GOP has a good chance to win back the House as Mr. Biden and his allies are dogged by inflation and sagging approval numbers. The evenly divided Senate is also up for grabs.
Vice President Kamala Harris served as a tie-breaking vote to pass the Democrats’ inflation bill in the Senate earlier this month. The House relied on its Democratic majority to get it through Congress.
Among other provisions, the bill establishes a minimum corporate tax, imposes sweeping climate provisions, allows Medicare to negotiate the cost of certain prescription drugs and extends super-sized Obamacare subsidies through 2025.
Republicans rejected the bill, saying it will supercharge inflation and impose taxes when businesses can ill afford it. They have slammed a provision that will let the Internal Revenue Service hire thousands of new employees, including auditors who are expected to comb over returns and bring in more revenue for the government.
The Biden team, however, explained that it can win over public opinion by airing its accomplishments in “surround sound.”
“We will make clear that the President and Congressional Democrats beat the special interests and delivered what was best for the American people. Every step of the way, congressional Republicans sided with the special interests — pushing an extreme MAGA agenda that costs families,” the memo said. “The Building a Better America campaign will use all of the tools of the White House to bring these messages to the American people.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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