This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated August 12, 2022
The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, August 7 on a strict party line vote, with the House set to pass it later in the week, sending it on to the President to be signed into law. All Republicans voting against the bill is indicative of today’s politics, where the GOP is loath to vote for anything they feel helps Democrats, even if it helps the American people.
Sweeping climate provisions that will reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and invest in clean energy production here in America are part of the bill, as are bonuses for companies depending on how much they pay their workers and for keeping jobs in the United States.
It will also allow Medicare to finally negotiate lower drug prices and seniors will see a $2,000 a year cap for out-of-pocket prescription costs. A $35 per month cap on insulin costs will also become a reality for seniors on Medicare, though that provision was intended to apply to everyone until Republicans killed it.
Thanks to the GOP, diabetics with private insurance will not benefit from the insulin cap. The cost of insulin is eight times higher in the U.S. than in any other country in the world. Two years ago, before President Biden was in the White House, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) asked lawmakers to come together to lower high insulin costs, warning of the “heartbreaking” consequences for diabetics. This August, she voted against lowering insulin costs.
For every dollar invested in IRS enforcement, $10 in revenue are expected in return. The funding being added to strengthen IRS enforcement will lead to lowering the deficit by over $200 billion over the next ten years. On August 6, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY11) griped about adding IRS agents she stated we do not need. Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted, “…87,000 new IRS agents to target regular, everyday Americans,” and GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel tweeted, “Democrats just voted to raise taxes on the middle class,” but neither audit rates nor taxes will increase at all for those making under $400,000.
“Believing in harsh enforcement of the law, except when it comes to people from your party is not democracy and it is not American. It is fascism.”
The July jobs numbers were better than expected, with unemployment falling to 3.6 percent, the lowest level in over fifty years. Ten million new jobs have been created during President Biden’s year-and-a-half in office and the recently passed CHIPS act will restart the American microchip industry.
The past week also saw gas prices continue to fall, Kansas voters decisively killing a possible statewide abortion ban, and the announcement that Al Qaeda terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a targeted strike. Other Biden first term accomplishments include passing the largest investment in infrastructure the nation has ever seen, reforms to ensure the Electoral College count is accurate, and the first gun safety bill signed into law since the 1990s.
Republicans in Congress have spent the past few weeks opposing care for Veterans who were sickened by burn pits and killing an insulin cost cap for diabetics, while doing the bidding of wealthy tax cheats who fear strengthened IRS enforcement. And now, with the world learning that Donald Trump’s home was raided by the FBI, the GOP is abandoning the rule of law.
FBI Director Christopher Wray is a Republican who was appointed by Trump. The warrant that was issued by a federal judge is only granted if it has been demonstrated that there is probable cause that evidence of illegal actions is located at the premises to be searched. Many Republicans have been saying publicly that if this can be done to a former president, think about what they can do to you. But that is the point: that nobody is above the law.
Incredibly, self-proclaimed ‘Back The Blue’ Republicans are suddenly threatening FBI leadership and calling for the bureau to be defunded or even abolished. Believing in harsh enforcement of the law, except when it comes to people from your party is not democracy and it is not American. It is fascism.
Democrats have been accomplishing things for the good of the American people. Republicans beholden to Trump’s MAGA movement have abandoned the rule of law and the tenets of democracy. The stakes in this year’s mid-term elections could not be higher.
