Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer traveled back to NYC Monday following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in the Senate Sunday, and outlined the bill’s benefits.
Calling it historic, Schumer stood in Midtown and touted the multipurpose bill which looks to fight climate change and inflation while also lowering the cost of utilities and prescription medication. Holding up a shiny red apple, Schumer declared he thought of the Big Apple when fighting for the bill to be passed.
“It was a long year, but we got it done. This inflation Reduction Act is one of the most comprehensive, significant pieces of legislation that has passed the Senate and the Congress in decades. It is going to have huge benefits for Americans and huge benefits for New Yorkers. I am so proud of it and I, in part, did this big deal with the Big Apple in mind because this is going to help New York,” Schumer said. “They say, how did you get this done? It’s not easy, with a 50/50 caucus running from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin with intransigent Republicans who wouldn’t even help us on reducing the cost of insulin.”
Calling Republicans the “no party” for blocking several pushes to lower costs of medicine such as insulin, Schumer patted himself on the back as being key to the Inflation Reduction Act’s passage. Trading in his apple for a vintage flip-phone, he stated that it was the ability for Democrats to have his direct line which made the difference in working as a team.
“This is my secret to success: Talking to members listening to members. You know when you have to get something done like this in a caucus that is so broad, as I say from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin, you have to listen to members and respect them. Joe Manchin and I had some really heated arguments and as he said, I turned the dogs on him when he backed off the agreement,” Schumer boasted.
The senator believes the Inflation Reduction Act will have a profound effect on all New Yorkers, especially the over 3.7 million people using Medicare whose healthcare will now be more affordable, according to Schumer. This comes in addition to what he estimates will be some 1.5 million new jobs created thanks to clean energy investments. The act will work to lower a variety of costs such as reducing dependency on overseas imports that is believed to help lower rising inflation, something that Schumer says New Yorkers will feel the ease of within months of it being enacted with its presence being primarily felt after one year.
“Generally, it is reducing costs. So, as I said, your drug costs will go way down. For all New Yorkers drug costs will go down. Here’s something less known your electric bill will go down. It’s estimated by 2030, the average New Yorker will save between $730 and $1,130 a year on your electric bill, on your energy bill. That’s huge savings for people because we’re using cheaper, greener energy, not getting the oil from Saudi Arabia, or when some other place Russia or anybody that’s undependable, your cost of appliances will go way down,” Schumer said.
