One year ago, Rep. Mike Levin and his fellow House Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) entirely on partisan lines.  The opposition that fiscal conservatives, like me had at the time was that the IRA would spend trillions of dollars and do next to nothing to actually curb inflation.

 

In his press release, dated August 12, 2022, Levin states:

“While Republicans spread disinformation about this bill, independent fact checkers have proven repeatedly that the Inflation Reduction Act does not raise taxes on any families making less than $400,000 and will not send IRS agents after middle-class people.”

 

Twelve months later, Levin has been eerily silent, but President Biden has admitted that the Inflation Reduction Act was never really about reducing inflation.  Instead, the President and his dutiful House Democrats like Levin, now admit that the IRA was never really about reducing inflation, but rather about investments in green energy.

 

Bait and Switch

When this legislation passed, our country was rebounding from one of the worst economic collapses since the Great Depression. Back then and sadly still to this day, families faced serious economic woes worsened by unexpected supply chain shortages.  Morally sound policy leaders could have sharpened their pencils and sat down to hammer out legislation that would have addressed these problems. The country looked to President Biden with Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress for a speedy solution to the economic peril felt at nearly every middle-class kitchen table.

 

What we got instead was the largest handout to the green energy sector in history with little to show for it.

 

Here is where I draw the line and why we need new leadership, as opposed to Levin who votes with Nancy Pelosi nearly 100% of the time.

 

First, gaslighting the public at a time when they are struggling to feed their families by calling a pork-laden piece of legislation the Inflation Reduction Act is everything that is wrong with Washington. We now know Levin and Washington Democrats only called it that so they could sell it to a public in desperate need of immediate inflation relief.

 

Second, the investments in green energy that were prioritized ahead of economic relief will, at best, not provide meaningful benefits for more than a decade and are entirely negated by rising emissions from China. Levin’s slick sales line about the IRA cutting one billion metric tons of emissions is one of those things that sounds great until you find out that is entirely wiped out by rising emission in Asia.  As we cut emissions by raising the costs of energy on every American, Chinese emissions continue to grow unabated and are more than double ours.  Levin may try to claim a Captain Planet mantra, but don’t hold your breath waiting for him to hold the world’s largest polluter accountable.

 

Third, the few portions of the IRA that pay lip service to deficit reduction hinge on the government’s ability to collect more taxes in the future. So, when they say the IRA is “paid for,” that’s what they mean – that you, me and our children will pay for it.

 

Fourth, we won’t just pay for it in the future, we’re paying for it right now with inflation still outpacing wages and sky-high interest rates caused by the trillions in bonds necessary to finance the IRA.  Interest rates like these make buying a home big or small next to impossible for the very same Americans that Levin claimed he was helping.  So if you’ve been waiting to buy a home or waiting to refinance due to economic hardship, you can’t.

 

On wages, the buying power you lost these last few years is gone and not coming back. If your salary is $100,000 per year, you would have needed to make $119,570 to have the same purchasing power you had four years ago. Absent a $19,570 raise that money is how much inflation has cost you. It’s not that Levin and Washington Democrats don’t know this, it’s just something they hoped you would not realize.

 

So, to sum up the truth about the Inflation Reduction Act, at a time when Americans were desperate for immediate economic relief, Mike Levin and Washington Democrats exploited that pain to inject trillions of dollars into long-term green energy investments, worsening inflation and paid for it predominantly by the placing the burden on  middle class taxpayers.

 

This is the difference between Mike Levin and me. I find this unacceptable and Mike Levin is “proud” of what he did.

 

The reason for this comes back to background.

 

Mike was Executive Director of the Democratic Party for years, so it is difficult to convince him to put his constituents before his party.  Moreover, he is such a zealous advocate for his friends and donors in green energy companies because outside of his time as a liberal political operative, his experience is almost entirely as an environmental lawyer.

 

Conversely, I have started and sold successful companies my entire life. These companies are rooted in our local Southern California communities, they have created hundreds of local jobs, and they have given back to the communities around us.

 

In terms of the difference, this issue is the perfect example.  As your Congressman, I will call out deceptively named pieces of legislation for what they are. I will prioritize our governments focus to the most pressing issues.  If I am presented a piece of legislation that has laudable, measurable environmental goals and I believe that you and I as taxpayers are getting a good deal, I will absolutely support it – provided it goes hand in hand with holding China accountable as the world’s leading polluter.

 

The solutions are not hard to find if our representatives in Washington are willing to put the people before their party.  And that is precisely why I am asking you for your vote for Congress.