U.S. Rep Blake Moore condemns Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act

U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) was one of 149 House Republicans who voted in favor of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the controversial debt deal negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden last weekend.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As predicted, the controversial Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) cleared the U.S. House on Aug. 12 and was sent to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

All four of Utah’s congressmen voted “no” on the $740 billion bill, along with 203 other Republican representatives, but 220 Democrats still prevailed.

“I fail to understand how this package reduces inflation,” said U.S. Rep Blake Moore after the House vote. “This bill will reduce economic output, add to the deficit and cost tens of thousands of full-time jobs.

“It is nothing more than a vehicle for Democrats to push their partisan agenda that creates outcomes that we already know adversely impact the American people.”

While Democrats hailed the IRA’s benefits, analysis by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania suggested that the bill would have no impact on inflation until 2028, when the measure would reduce inflation by 0.1 percent. The Wharton economists called that “… statistically indistinguishable from zero.”

The Congressional Budget Office agreed that the IRA’s delayed affects would be “negligible at best.”

GOP leaders in the Senate called the poorly named IRA a typical Democratic tax and spend bill “… in sheep’s clothing” and a last gasp attempt to revive Biden stalled domestic agenda.

Moore’s staff said that more than 50 percent of the IRA spending – over $380 million through direct spending and tax breaks – goes toward green new deal initiatives, including a $250 million expansion of the Department of Energy.

‘In reality,” Moore argued, “this will become a $250 billion dollar slush fund that will enable more fraud, waste and abuse.

“When President (Barak) Obama attempted a similar green energy initiative – the failed Solyndra operation – it cost $500 million. Compare that to $380 billion – with a ‘b’ – in taxpayer dollars.”

Moore also criticized the IRA’s tax generating provisions. The bill would impose a “Made in America” tax that is predicted to raise $222 billion with a new 15 percent minimum tax on U.S. companies with net income of over a $1 billion starting on Jan. 1.

Democrats say that will finally make U.S. industries pay their fair share. Republicans counter that it may be the last straw to push the U.S. economy into a recession.

“This will reduce economic growth in the form of reduced jobs, wages and investment,” Moore predicted. “It is simply the last thing that Americans need after two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product growth.”

Moore acknowledges that Utah’s 1st District is home to thousands of Internal Revenue Service workers who are in desperate need of advanced technologies and enhanced customer service capabilities.

“They are not, however, in need of the Democrats’ push to spend $80 billion on IRS expansion,” according to Moore.

Democrats argue that there is a significant “tax gap” – the difference between what is owed to the government and what is actually paid.

According to the non-partisan Joint Tax Committee, that figure could be at least $381 billion a year, with most of it attributable to under-reporting of income.

But Moore says that deputizing the IRS to go after all Americanxs is the worst way to raise tax revenues in the midst of a period of economic decline.

Much of the $80 billion being allocated to the IRS will be used to hire 87,000 new agents to conduct new audits, Moore explained.

“Low and middle income earners will be hit with an estimated 700,000 new audits,” the congressman predicted. “That will hurt small businesses and low-come Americans.”

The so-called Inflation Reduction Act will likely be signed into law sometime next week.

President Biden is currently on vacation in South Carolina.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.