As we reported President Biden signed the bipartisan ships Act into
law. Today. It's one of the legislative victories. Democrats are
touting this week, just days before the president's favorite healthcare
tax and climate change bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act,
heads to the house, where it is likely to pass after passing along
strictly party lines in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, played
a key role in getting the bill through that chamber and I spoke with
him earlier today.
Leader Schumer. Thank you very much for joining us. And before I
ask you about the inflation reduction Act, I do want to ask you about
this unprecedented raid by the FBI on former President Trump's home
in Palm Beach, where you or any other senior congressional leader
briefed about this. And if not, shouldn't you have been
Well, we were not briefed, and I don't know enough detail to make
any determination there, Whether we should have or we shouldn't have
been, Um And so I'm not going to comment on this until more information
comes out. All I know is what all of us have read in the news media.
Well, let me just at least ask you two questions. One is about former
President Trump's reaction. He's saying this is a sign of corruption.
In the vitamin ist rations, he said. It's a sign that the justice
system has been weaponized in this country. Has it been weaponized?
Not commenting until we get more information. Judy all right, and
then one other question. I understand what you're saying. We have
the House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, telling the attorney
General Merrick Garland, that once the Republicans take over the
house, they're going to be investigating him. We have Republican
National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.
Saying to Americans send us money so we can elect more Republicans
this fall. Is this going to be a problem for Democrats and the midterms?
I think commenting on this is premature for me or for anybody else,
All right, we're going to turn to the inflation reduction Act. Senator
Schumer. I think many people are looking at this and they see a lot
of numbers. They want to understand. What does it mean for ordinary
Americans? What would you say to them? It's probably the most significant
and sweeping legislation for ordering
Very Americans in decades.
It's going to mean a lot of different things. It's going to mean
people's costs are going to be reduced there. We've been waiting
for years to allow Medicare to negotiate with the drug companies
to lower costs, and that's going to happen and people's costs will
be much, much lower. Insulin for people on Medicare will only be
$35 a month as opposed to the 67 $800. It is now.
Many more people will be able to get health insurance through ACA
and their costs will not go up. So on the healthcare front and one
other thing, if you no one will pay more than $2000 a year for prescription
drugs, So if you're one of those people who has these very needed
but expensive medications that cost $500 a dose, you're going to
be in much better shape.
On the climate front. It is the most dramatic change in climate fighting
global warming we've ever had, but it's going to mean lower costs
for people. The average person's electric bill will go down close
to $1000 by 2030. People will pay less for appliances. They'll be
far more efficient and less expensive, and it will mean that we will
close tax loopholes on the very wealthy who have gotten away with
this for a very, very long time.
To boot. We create about nine million new jobs in the clean energy
industry, and those will often go to people of color people, poor
people who haven't been able to get these jobs in the past. So this
is going to mean a lot of things for a lot of people in the fact.
Finally, that global warming will finally get a handle on it is going
to mean that people will be more protected from the floods and hurricanes
and fires and everything else that's been happening because of global
warming.
One aspect of this is drug prices. Those lower prices caps on drugs
that people now count on those don't go into effect until 2025. That's
2.5 years from now. The government negotiating with the pharmaceutical
industry over prices doesn't take effect until 2025 to 2. Other things
take effect far more quickly.
The $35 cap on insulin takes effect right in 2023, as does the $2000
limit on what anybody will pay for drugs, so it's going to have a
lot of effects immediately and in the longer run, even greater effects
still, and once the pharmaceutical industry knows that they're going
to have to negotiate, they may adjust accordingly. Ahead of time
as well. I want to ask you about one of the tax provisions leader
Schumer. We know that Arizona Senator Kirsten Cinema insisted that
this
Provision that would have meant higher taxes on hedge fund and private
equity managers be taken out. How does the Democratic Party say We
are the party of working class middle class Americans when there
continues to be this loophole for billionaires who are in private
equity or hedge fund business? Look, Senator Cinema insisted it be
taken out. The choice was taken out, not do all those other good
things or keep it in and let the bill die. But we substituted something
that might be just as strong, if not
Better. We're putting a 1% tax on stock buybacks. These stock buybacks
also helped the corporate billionaires and the big big hedge fund
holders and things like that, because and they do no benefit for
people. They just make the stock price go up by having fewer shares.
So that brought in $70 billion against the very wealthy and the carried
interest loophole and I was for getting rid of the carried interest
loophole was only 14. So the Republicans, including your Republican
colleagues in the Senate right now, who are out there, saying the
IRS with 87,000 more agents is going to be targeting middle income
Americans? They're just they're lying. And you know, this is typical
of Republicans. They just defend the very rich and then say there
Pending the middle class. When they did the trump tax cuts. They
said they were for the middle class. But people learned the vast
majority of them went to the rich. This is what Republicans want
to do, and we've reversed it.
And that's going to be welcomed by 90% of Americans Senator the overall
picture that this is a what 750 some odd billion dollar Bill. Democrats
for months were pushing for either a 3.5 trillion and then a $1.75
trillion package. This went on for months. Why not settle for something
like this sooner? It would have
Not only save time, but it would have meant the benefits that you're
talking about, would have gone into effect sooner. Well, no one was
ready to do it sooner. The bottom line is that we wanted to get as
good a package as we could. Senator Mansion rejected even the 1.85
point 0.5 billion package with President Biden and so I sat down
with him, and we negotiated. It took us a while to get there, but
just everybody, including the most progressive people, you looked
at every senator from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin.
Voted for this. Everyone thought this was a lot better than nothing.
The choice was not this or something better because mansion cinema
wouldn't have voted for anything beyond this. As much as I would
have liked to go. The choice was this or nothing. And this is very
significant, the most significant reduction in carbon into the atmosphere
ever by legions more than we have ever done, finally dealing with
prescription drugs.
Finally dealing with those loopholes that the wealthy get away with.
This is very, very significant legislation. Now it's easy to say
Well, you should have done more. You should have done it differently.
This is a really good package we're proud of. And the American people
by all polling data 70 80% supported even 40% of Republicans support
it to other things. Senator Schumer would has there been a lesson
in all of this for you and other Democrats in dealing frankly, with
Senator Manchin and Senator Cinema when you're looking at other priorities
for the demo, the overall lesson that I have my dad passed away in
November. He would have been 99 on flag day, and he taught me a lesson.
You know, he's still sitting here with me. Some of us who have lost
parents were close to their never very far away, and he taught me
a lesson, he said. If you're doing the right thing,
And you persist in his words. God will reward you and you'll succeed.
We kept persisting. We kept persisting with Senator Manchin. We kept
persisting with Senator cinema and we got something not everything
Everybody wanted, but something that's damn good persist and you
will succeed. Don't give up and you will succeed. That's been my
motto my whole life and I think we've done some good things and let's
not forget
We did a lot of other things this month. The Chips Act, which the
president just signed today will keep the American economy number
one and employ millions of people. We did the first thing in the
pact act, the biggest thing for veterans healthcare in 10 years,
So when they breathe in these toxins will be taken care of. For the
first time. We've gotten some gun control legislation passed, not
everything we wanted, but good.
And finally, we did a treaty where we let the to fit. You know, Finland
and Sweden into NATO. This is all in six weeks. It's an amazing accomplishment.
Easy to pick holes in it. But boy Oh boy, it's a lot more than any
Congress has done in a long time. So finally, Senator, Let me ask
you if that's going to make a difference this fall, because, as you
know, respected, analysts are saying that the Republicans are likely
to take control of the house, and they may very well take over control
of the Senate, Nathan Gonzales, who is one of those respected analysts,
as saying. The Republicans
Likely to pick up 123 seats in the Senate.
Well, some of the other analysts Fivethirtyeight, another respected
one just said. We're going to pick up seats in the Senate. I believe
we will pick up seats for two reasons. First, the Republican Party
has moved so far to the right and people are seeing it after the
court decisions in Dobbs on abortion and the other court decisions
on guns and environment. They've seen it in the January 6th hearings,
and they've seen it with their just radical.
Rhetoric and thoughts that come from the new REM mag, a Republican
party about 20% of Republicans don't like this Maga Republican Party.
But then people say, Okay, I don't like the Republicans, but Democrats
when they're in, Can they get something done, and I think we've answered
that question with a resounding yes in the last few weeks, I think
it's going to help us. I think we will pick up seats. How many
Oh, I'm not going to guess that you've got enough out of me. The
Senate Majority leader, Chuck Schumer. Thank you very much. We appreciate