Biden touts billions in cost cuts on second anniversary of Inflation Reduction Act

“This bill is already reducing health care costs for millions of families, strengthening energy security and, according to outside groups, creating more than 330,000 clean energy jobs,” Biden said in a statement.

“In addition, $265 billion has been invested by the private sector in clean energy and manufacturing over the past two years – part of the nearly $900 billion invested in America since we took office.”

On Thursday, Biden said that negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over Medicare drug prices made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act will save Medicare $6 billion in the first year alone and Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion.

Starting in January, annual prescription drug costs for Medicare IRA beneficiaries will be capped at $2,000 per year.

The Republicans, Biden said, want to abolish the IRA.

“As Republicans in Congress try to repeal this law – which would raise the cost of prescription drugs and take away good-paying jobs from their constituents – all in order to give massive tax breaks to big corporations – Vice President Harris and I will continue to fight to move our country forward by investing in America and giving families more breathing room,” Biden said.

In a separate statement Friday, the White House listed the benefits of the IRA.

These include lower drug prices under Medicare, $8.4 billion in tax breaks for homeowners who upgrade their energy systems, average savings of $800 per year from lower health insurance premiums, $900 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments, and a tax break on electric vehicles that has saved buyers about $1.5 billion so far.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, since the IRA was passed, companies in nearly every U.S. state have announced $265 billion in new clean energy investments.

Data from the U.S. Treasury Department and IRS confirmed on August 7 that more than 3.4 million Americans benefited from $8.4 billion in clean energy tax credits provided by the IRA.

“The Inflation Reduction Act's investments will enable the IRS to crack down even harder on wealthy and corporate tax evaders over the next decade and raise more than $400 billion in additional revenue,” the White House said.

The White House added that the IRS had used additional IRA funds to collect $1 billion from 1,500 “millionaire tax evaders” and that enforcement actions had been taken against another 25,000 millionaires who had not filed tax returns since 2017.

IRA investments also “disproportionately go to disadvantaged and disadvantaged communities: 99 percent of high-poverty counties have received funding from the Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS Act or the Inflation Reduction Act, and nonmetropolitan communities have received nearly twice the amount of funding per capita as their urban counterparts,” the White House said.