Bernie Sanders supports, critiques inflation legislation

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square

Sen. Bernie Sanders, third-term independent from Vermont, supported the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act and critiqued it as well in the aftermath of Sunday’s marathon voting in the U.S. Senate.

In a tweet late that evening, he wrote, “Today the Inflation Reduction Act passed the Senate 51-50. In my view, this legislation goes nowhere near far enough for working families, but it does begin to address the existential crisis of climate change. It’s an important step forward and I was happy to support it.”

Gage Skidmore/Flickr

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Initiatives connected to climate change, energy, health and taxes were in the package. Many said it was a scaled-down, or different version, of President Joe Biden’s 10-year, $3.5 trillion plan that included those areas plus paid family leave, universal preschool, child care and tax breaks for families with children. Analysts projected the passed version at one-tenth the size.

The 755-page spending bill was routed through special procedures – primarily aimed at affecting the federal budget, not imposing new policy – so that a simple majority rather than 60 votes were needed for passage.

Maine’s Angus King, the other independent senator in the chamber, also voted for it. Each caucuses with Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris cast a tie-breaking vote. The House is likely to take a vote on or before Friday and Biden has indicated he will sign it in present form.

The legislation wasn’t roundly endorsed by independent analysts as a game-changer the way Democrats portrayed it.

Penn Wharton reported, “We estimate that the Inflation Reduction Act will produce a very small increase in inflation for the first few years, up to 0.05 percent points in 2024. We estimate a 0.25 percentage point fall in the PCE price index by the late 2020s. These point estimates, however, are not statistically different than zero, thereby indicating a very low level of confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation.”

Penn Wharton is a widely accepted economic forecasting model used by politically unaligned groups like the Tax Policy Center.

According to The Center Square reporting sourcing Utah Sen. Mike Lee, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the bill would raise taxes by $313 billion over the next 10 years. Further, Americans in every tax bracket would be hurt.

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore/Flickr

4 thoughts on “Bernie Sanders supports, critiques inflation legislation

  1. Vermont’s barking buffoon, he’s only upset because he couldn’t get more money wasted,
    Socialist Sanders, made all his money the American way, not by his socialist agenda rhetoric,
    hypocrite comes to mind !!

    Term limits for all…………………………………

    • His AIM-HIGH minimum was $6 TRILLION, which, even for the most extremist Dem/Progs, was off-the-charts rediculous.

      The US national debt is about $33 TRILLION, increasing at $1.5 TRILLION per year.

      The “Inflation Reduction Act” would reduce that by $300 BILLION OVER 10 YEARS

      What a joke!!!

  2. sanders can be proud of his yes vote. From what has been reported on what’s actually in the bill- the increase for IRS staffing, tax breaks to draw Kyrsten Sinema’s yes vote- the “bern” was duped into voting for a bill that gives mostly to the wealthy and “evil” corporations- the very same people he rants and rails against. Or was he duped? sanders requires campaign cash every bit as much as the next marxist or democrat or rino.

  3. AND if YOU had voted NO, it wouldnt have happened (reconciliation pathway)
    so, you are about worthless to “we the people” who pay you to represent us
    VOTE………write all r/t TERM LIMITS (with no pay for life after “service”…..again what we see now is NOT “service” unless the word SELF is placed in front of it)
    so upset about this……….

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