U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) released the following statement after joining President Biden at the White House today to celebrate the recent enactment of the “Inflation Reduction Act”.
Peters says the law will lower costs for families in Michigan and across the country. Peters helped the Senate pass this landmark legislation last month.
“I’m focused on addressing the most pressing issues for Michiganders — and that’s why we took decisive action to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, lower health insurance premiums, reduce energy bills for families and tackle inflation. Today’s event was an important opportunity to highlight how this new law will give Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices and cap out-of-pocket costs on medications for seniors, while also addressing climate change through investments in clean energy production that will provide meaningful relief for families and create good-paying jobs.”
Peters says that the Inflation Reduction Act will:
- LOWER PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS: Will allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and cap out-of-pocket costs to $2,000 annually, which will lower prescription drug costs. It also will reduce the cost of insulin, capping at $35 per month co-pays for seniors on Medicare plans. Peters previously cosponsored legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and lower the costs of insulin and save patients’ money.
- LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS: Will reduce Affordable Care Act premiums for millions of Americans for three years, through 2025. Without this provision, millions of Americans could have faced higher health care premiums for quality coverage.
- INVEST IN CLEAN ENERGY & DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING, COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE: Will make historic investments in tackling climate change, while lowering energy costs, increasing clean energy production and reducing carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030. It includes clean energy tax credits for consumers and manufacturing. The consumer tax credits are for electric vehicles and encourage families to make their homes more energy efficient and run on clean energy. The bill will also provide manufacturing incentives including tax credits to encourage the onshoring of supply chains and accelerate domestic manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals. Together, these measures will create economic opportunity and create jobs, improve our energy security and accelerate development of clean energy technologies, and help confront the climate crisis. This will also boost our economic competitiveness against other countries, including China. As Chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Peters helped secure provisions to repair and maintain DHS facilities to protect workers from toxic substances, such as PFAS, and save taxpayer dollars by improving energy efficiency. He also secured a provision to encourage the use of environmentally friendly building materials in disaster recovery efforts.
- REDUCE DEFICIT & FIGHT INFLATION: Will fight inflation and bring down the deficit. It will also make the biggest corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share, while there are no new taxes for families making $400,000 or less and no new taxes on small businesses. The savings in this bill will be accomplished by closing tax loopholes and enforcing the tax code. This includes a measure to impose a one percent tax on corporate stock buybacks.
- PROVIDE THE POSTAL SERVICE WITH SAFE AND EFFICIENT DELIVERY VEHICLES: The future of the auto industry is electric, and this bill makes investments in an EV future that will help drive innovation, jobs and economic opportunity. As Chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Peters helped secure major investments for the U.S. Postal Service to purchase electric delivery trucks as they continue to add more Next Generation Delivery Vehicles and other vehicles to their fleet. The funding will also enable the Postal Service to invest in charging infrastructure. Peters has led efforts to ensure the Postal Service acquires more electric vehicles. In part due to his urging, the Postal Service announced that they intend to expand their electric vehicle purchase order to at least fifty percent. Peters convened a committee briefing in April with USPS to discuss efforts to modernize the Postal Service’s aging delivery vehicle fleet – including by acquiring electric vehicles and prioritizing union-made vehicles. Last year, he sent a letter to Postal Service leadership urging them to prioritize the acquisition of electric vehicles to ensure the fleet is sustainable for the Postal Service and for our environment.
- ENSURE EFFECTIVE USE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS: The legislation includes additional resources, which Peters helped secure as Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to support the Government Accountability Office’s efforts to conduct oversight of the spending and implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act.
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