OPINION:
Conventions are all about the candidate and party platform. The Republican National Convention reduced the GOP platform to a short one that concisely conveys that former President Donald Trump supports a low-tax, low-regulation, restrained foreign policy and pro-family agenda. If elected, Mr. Trump’s agenda item No. 1 should be to repeal the horribly named Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act was legislation that promised to reduce inflation, yet it hammered Americans with higher inflation in the form of higher grocery, gas, housing and drug prices — to name a few. Mike Gonzalez of The Heritage Foundation argued on July 16 that Mr. Biden’s false claims he reduced inflation from the Trump years have been exposed because “our annualized inflation in May was still a high 3.3%, more than double what former President Donald Trump left and almost 1 point higher than the eurozone’s 2.5%.”
He cited a source that “our rate of inflation means that consumer prices were 22% higher in May 2024 than they were in January 2020.” The law accomplished the opposite of what was advertised.
Only the government can create inflation by spending more than it receives in revenue. When the government spends more than it has, the Federal Reserve is called upon to find ways to increase the supply of money. Both Republicans and Democrats have been guilty of consistently spending trillions more than they take in every year.
The Biden administration is not going in the right direction. The Treasury Department put the price of the Inflation Reduction Act at $780 billion through 2031, and an unbiased accounting likely would put the price tag to taxpayers much higher. It is undeniable that the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan contributed to inflation, but nothing the Biden administration has done since taking office has shown an inclination to reduce or even slow federal spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the deficit for this year will approach $2 trillion, meaning we will see more inflation in the upcoming year.
One especially horrible provision in the bill imposed a tax on prescription drugs for older adults. The Biden administration promised that the IRA would reduce drug prices, yet they have gone up. Sound familiar?
The law empowered government bureaucrats to mandate the price of a drug with the threat of massive tax increases on the drug manufacturer and distributor if the company does not bow to White House pressure.
Several prominent conservative groups sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, arguing that the price controls have “done little to deliver the savings seniors were promised; it has actually led to higher costs.” They cite the fact that “monthly premiums for Medicare Part D prescription drug plans have risen sharply since the IRA became law.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation found that Medicare prescription drug plan premiums increased by over 20% in the year after the law passed. Instead of reducing drug prices, older Americans see their premiums rising and their choice of plans shrinking.
These conservative groups are right. When you look at the fall in the number of Medicare Part D plans available to older people and the likelihood that premiums will continue to rise dramatically, the folly of the Inflation Reduction Act’s provision to punish drug companies with higher taxes makes no sense.
Another subsidiary benefit of the repeal of the law would be to defund the left’s “woke” agenda. Massive spending on green energy programs will make the federal government more powerful. With money to dole out and even more taxpayer money to squander, it is easier for government bureaucrats to bully private enterprises and government agencies into adopting diversity, equity and inclusion programs that put a de facto quota system into government and private enterprise hiring policies.
One area of the green energy field that would be affected is a proposed mandate that Americans buy an electric vehicle. Mr. Trump likely will stop all these programs. A change in administration and repeal of the IRA would be good first steps to fix our broken federal government.
I firmly believe that Mr. Trump will return to the White House in January. A promise to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act to get inflation under control and cut spending would go a long way to put any chance of a second Democratic term far in the rearview mirror.
• Brian Darling is former counsel to Sen. Rand Paul.
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