You have seen Joe Manchin break his pledges to the American people and West Virginians to support the so-called Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which has nothing to do with reducing inflation. Instead, it creates new spending and taxation to support the priorities of Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. You’d think that the activist groups focused on fiscal responsibility would oppose such brazen spending, and many of them did. But in The Wall Street Journal, economist Stephen Moore points out one group that gave the bill a rubber stamp, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Moore writes:
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget describes itself as “an authoritative voice for fiscal responsibility,” whose purpose is “to improve the country’s fiscal and economic condition.” It touts its “bipartisan leadership.” Yet the CRFB enthusiastically endorsed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which will raise spending by half a trillion dollars and passed both chambers of Congress by party-line votes. Nearly every fiscal conservative and pro-taxpayer group strongly opposed the bill.
“This legislation focuses on lowering health care and energy costs, raising revenue and reducing deficits,” said CRFB president Maya MacGuineas. She said Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia “deserves tremendous credit for pushing this fiscally responsible reconciliation bill,” which she described as “just what the doctor ordered.” Yet while the bill is “paid for” with $740 billion in tax increases and drug-price controls, its $500 billion in new spending is fiscally irresponsible by any reckoning.
For years the CRFB has spotlighted runaway entitlement spending as the driving force behind the growth in the national debt, now $22 trillion and rising. Rather than curtail entitlement costs, the act adds $70 billion of ObamaCare subsidies to expand eligibility to families making up to $100,000 in some states. The Heritage Foundation estimates that when taking into account the negative economic effects of the taxes and spending, through 2031 the act will add $100 billion to the debt.
Worse, it doesn’t eliminate a single spending program and creates tens of billions of dollars of massive giveaways for electric vehicles, wind and solar power, already among the most heavily subsidized industries in American history. It also creates new programs, such as $2 billion for “environmental justice grants.”
Even in the wake of reports by government auditors that at least $150 billion has been wasted on fraudulent and erroneous payments in programs such as unemployment insurance, Medicaid and food stamps, the new law does nothing to clean up or punish this fraud and waste.
Action Line: Americans will be paying for this ill-advised spending for decades. But CRFB just rubber-stamped the bill. Americans know there’s something wrong with the system, and they’re tired of watching their government spend their money on the priorities of the radical progressive elites. If you’re unhappy with the direction this country is heading, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, and I’ll help you prepare your family to weather this storm.
