07 August 2022
The landmark legislation would reduce carbon emissions and lower prescription drug costs
Washington, DC – Legislation authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., passed the Senate today as part of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act.
The centerpiece of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy package is Wyden’s Clean Energy for America Act, first introduced in 2015, which overhauls the energy tax code to incentivize the reduction emissions rather than specific technologies.
The Clean Power for America Act would reduce carbon emissions in the electricity sector by 70% over the next decade and is the main driver of the overall 40% reduction in emissions achieved by the Inflation Reduction Act.
“This historic clean energy package has been a decade in the making. When clean energy legislation failed in 2010, we regrouped to ensure success the next time Democrats had a chance,” Wyden said. “We turned to emission-based, technology-neutral tax incentives and spent nearly a decade preparing this bill. My lodestar has been getting the most emissions and cost savings possible with 50 votes. That’s why the The Inflation Reduction Act’s Clean Energy Tax Package is about 90 percent of the Clean Energy for America Act that the Senate Finance Committee passed in May 2021. We created the necessary support over time.
Wyden continued, “This bill will lower energy costs, ensure our energy independence, and dramatically reduce carbon emissions. For the first time, the tax code will reward emissions reductions and encourage the development of new clean energy technologies as as soon as they are online. Congress will no longer need to legislate technology by technology, facilitating innovation and bringing new technologies to market. Importantly, this is permanent energy policy. Congress will no longer need to extend these incentives every few years, giving businesses and states certainty to plan clean energy projects and create jobs. This is one of the most important bills of my service in the Senate.”
On health care, the Inflation Reduction Act includes the culmination of Wyden’s work on the Finance Committee to address the high cost of prescription drugs.
The bill would finally allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, especially for more expensive drugs that have no competition after being on the market for years. The bill also includes an inflation rebate that limits Big Pharma’s ability to raise the price year after year and creates strong protections for seniors, including a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket limit.
“For too long, Medicare has been forced to fight Big Pharma with one hand tied behind its back — that ends when this bill is signed into law,” Wyden said. “Since becoming the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, I’ve been highlighting how the drug pricing system is broken from top to bottom. Finally, the Senate has begun to redefine the relationship between Medicare and Big Pharma. This work began the last Congress on a bipartisan basis, and virtually all of the Finance Committee’s work two years ago is included in the Inflation Reduction Act.Democrats have taken the next critical step by lifting the curse that has prevented Medicare from negotiating lower prices.
“Medicare bargaining is the centerpiece of the Drug Price Reforms of the Inflation Reduction Act. Drug companies will no longer be able to chain Medicare for years or even decades while taxpayers foot the bill. This policy is ‘targets the most expensive and widely used drugs that have had zero competition for years. It lowers prices in a way that is fair and designed to promote innovation, not stifle it. These negotiations will begin next year. It creates a cap on Big Pharma’s ability to raise prices with the Medicare inflation discount, forcing drug companies to pay a fee to Medicare if they raise their prices faster than inflation.Critically, the bill will protect seniors from high out-of-pocket costs in less than a year and a half with a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on drug costs, saving more than a million seniors from peri the financial Together, these policies represent a seismic shift in the way Medicare pays for drugs, and it does so in a way that will dramatically lower costs for seniors and taxpayers.”
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