President Biden seemed unfamiliar on Monday with the details of the massive spending bill dubbed the Cut Inflation Act that Senate Democrats passed on Sundaysaying he funds health care “and God knows what else”.
Moments earlier, Biden misjudged last year’s height $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law while visiting flood damage in the Kentucky hamlet of Lost Creek.
“We’ve never done this before, but because of a number of things that we’ve done on a bipartisan basis – like a $200 million billion infrastructure project – like what we’re doing today we passed yesterday, helping take care of everything from health care to god knows what else,” Biden said.
“What we are going to do is – we are going to see, for example, that they have to put a new water pipe in the community,” the president continued, without a script prepared.
“There’s no reason they can’t dig a line at the same time that sets up a whole new modern line for internet connections. Why? Why can’t we do this? So it’s going to be different. We will come back better than before.
Biden only spoke for about four minutes as he stood outside a condemned mobile home on his first official trip since recovering from a case of “rebound” of COVID-19.
At one point in his remarks, Biden suggested it might become possible to control the weather, before jokingly telling his audience, which included Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), That it was time to ‘run rounds.
“We are all Americans. Everyone has an obligation to help. We have the ability to do that. It’s not like it’s out of our control. The weather may be beyond our control at this time. But it’s not out of our control,” Biden said.
Biden’s remarks on the Senate-passed package were flagged by conservatives, who said Biden underscored their argument that the bill was not about curbing inflation, which has soared 9.1% annual rate in June.
RNC Deputy Director of Rapid Response Kyle Martinsen tweeted: “Biden basically admits that the ‘Cut Inflation Act’ is not about lowering inflation.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) wrote“‘God knows what else’ means everything the far left wanted in the bill and all the extra pork [Democratic Sens. Joe] manchin [of West Virginia] and [Kyrsten] Movie theater [of Arizona] necessary to arrive at Yes.
A number of social media users also wrote that they believed the imprecise description of the 79-year-old president was a reflection of cognitive decline.
Biden, who advocates note has been gaffe-prone for decades, mistakenly referred to himself last week as “vice-president”, before quickly correcting himself, and last month wrongly told a Massachusetts audience that he has cancer, forcing aides to say he was referring to skin cancer from years ago.
The Cut Inflation Act is expected to pass the House of Representatives as early as Friday and provides nearly $400 billion for environmental programs, including tax credits of up to $7,000 to purchase electric vehicles, and about $64 billion to extend the more generous COVID-19 era. Obamacare grants.
Much of the new spending includes grants and loans to support renewable energy-related manufacturing, including $62 billion to support makers of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric cars, and $30 billion additional funds for state and electric utility projects.
Another $27 billion is for a “clean energy technology accelerator” to reduce emissions, $20 billion is earmarked for “climate-smart agricultural practices” and $10 billion will support improved energy efficiency of dwellings for low-income residences.
The bill includes $9 billion for federal green energy procurement, including $3 billion to purchase electric vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service.
The new spending is offset by new corporate taxes, including a new 15% minimum corporate tax, increased IRS enforcement, and allowing Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices.
The bill’s title refers to the fact that inflation has repeatedly hit 41-year highs this year – and could do so again when the consumer price index for July is announced on Wednesday. Biden critics and some economists say government spending — including Biden’s US $1.9 Trillion Bailout Actwho spent the last year without Republican support — effectively printed money, making it less valuable.
Senate Republicans criticized the bill and voted unanimously against it on Sunday, forcing Vice President Kamala Harris to break a 50-50 tied vote on the package.
“The Orwellian named ‘Cut Inflation Act’ will do no such thing, as a number of leading experts and economic policy groups have indicated,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis .) After the bill has been approved by the chamber. “The Penn Wharton budget model, the tax foundationand the Congressional Budget Office all agreed that the bill would not reduce inflation and could make it worse. The IRS would do more than double in sizereleasing 87,000 new enforcement officers on American families… [and the] The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation says that 78% to 90% of the income generated by erroneous income would likely come from those earning less than $200,000.
Democrats, meanwhile, celebrated the bill, which resurrected key elements of the $2 trillion Better Biden Rebuild Act.
“Joe Biden ran for president promising to grow the middle class, tackle the existential threat of the climate crisis, and restore America to the world stage,” the communications director said on Twitter. of the White House, Kate Bedingfield. “There’s so much more to do – but that’s just a reminder when he gives you his word as Biden, he’s not kidding.”