Progressives Applaud as Biden Signs ‘Landmark’ IRA Into Law

Economic and climate justice groups on Tuesday applauded as U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, with advocates hailing the $740 billion investment in climate action, corporate tax reform, and healthcare as “landmark legislation” while they pledged to continue working to secure more ambitious reforms.

“It’s law,” Biden said as he signed the IRA, which includes a historic investment of $370 billion to expand renewable energy infrastructure, caps prescription drug costs for senior citizens, and pays for badly needed reforms by raising taxes on corporations.

As Biden signed the bill more than a year after his original proposal for the Build Back Better Act, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said the IRA “is a reminder that we must never stop fighting to address the climate crisis—because our planet and future is at stake.”

“This bill is the biggest step forward on climate ever,” Biden told the crowd gathered at the White House for the signing.

Lisa Frank of Environment America’s Washington legislative office applauded the president and the Democratic Party for taking a “huge step” toward reducing U.S. carbon emissions.

Moreover, Union of Concerned Scientists president Johanna Chao Kreilick said that by offering tax credits and rebates for the use of renewable energy sources and creating an estimated nine million jobs over the next decade, the IRA “marks a win for future generations who deserve our best efforts to secure a safer and healthier world.”

Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, called the law “a forced compromise between corporate oil lobbyists and young people who are fighting for a livable future,” noting the IRA’s continuation of oil and gas lease sales “is unacceptable, and will hurt the predominantly Black, Brown, and poor communities on the frontlines of extraction.”

Besides, other advocates hailed IRA provisions requiring Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, limiting out-of-pocket insulin costs to $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries, making all adult vaccines free for program enrollees, and capping out-of-pocket prescription medication costs at $2,000 per year for Medicare Part D.

“President Biden, along with Democrats in the Senate and House, fulfilled their promises to the American people by standing firm in the face of assaults from Big Pharma and passing unprecedented reforms,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs Now. “As a result, they have changed the trajectory of drug pricing in the United States.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.