White House to Celebrate ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Hours after Dismal August Inflation News
Inflation Reduction Act #InflationReductionAct
Thousands of Biden supporters are expected to join the president at the White House Tuesday to celebrate the passage of the “Inflation Reduction Act,” the same day the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing inflation had continued to rise in August.
The report showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, increased by 8.3 percent in August when compared to the same month last year and increased 0.1 percent from July.
Many economists had predicted inflation would decline slightly in August. Markets nosedived on the news, with the Dow falling 900 points.
Consumer wallets are also getting hit hard at the grocery store. The food index had the largest 12-month increase since May of 1979, rising 11.4 percent over the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
Biden announced that he will be making a speech Tuesday afternoon to mark four weeks since the “Inflation Reduction Act” was signed into law.
The Biden administration has hailed the bill for its provisions on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, combating the climate crisis, reducing the deficit, and making “the largest corporations pay their fair share of taxes.” Ahead of the midterms the White House has emphasized the “Inflation Reduction Act” as evidence that the Democrats are capable of successfully passing legislation.
However, despite what its name indicates, the bill will not tame record-breaking inflation in the near future, and may even make it worse, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The CBO report said it estimates the bill will have a “negligible effect on inflation” in 2022. For 2023, the agency predicted inflation would be .1 percent lower or higher than it is currently due to the passage of the bill.
A report published by the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) found the bill’s “impact on inflation is statistically indistinguishable from zero.”
More from National Review