Congressman Henry Cuellar’s Statement on the Inflation Reduction Act
Washington | Dana Youngentob, DC Press Secretary (202-340-9148),
August 11, 2022
“After reviewing this legislation while speaking with my constituents, local elected officials, and community leaders in the 28th District of Texas, I have decided to vote YES on the Inflation Reduction Act.
The bottom line is simple, this bill is good for hardworking Texans without adding to the national debt. Specifically, the Inflation Reduction Act: • Invests approximately $300 billion to reduce our national debt. • Provides $369 billion for Energy Security + Climate Change programs and reduces carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030. • Seniors will now have insulin prices capped at $35 a month. • Medicare will be able to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. • Creates a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for seniors buying prescriptions from pharmacies. • Lowers Affordable Care Act healthcare premiums for millions of Americans. These changes will quite literally save lives. My constituents sent me to Washington to make change and move this country forward; as this bill has been negotiated I have not forgotten what is important to Texans. I fought to make sure the oil & gas industry was not the prime target by DC elitists as the industry provides nearly 40,000 jobs in my district along with $2.4 billion in income. The Inflation Reduction Act is a better piece of legislation than Build Back Better and I worked to ensure several harmful provisions to our Texas oil & gas companies were removed. This legislation, while not everything I had hoped, allows Texas producers to do what they do best, drill. We need to champion American energy independence and ensure we continue to produce the cleanest oil & gas in the world. No bill is perfect. However, compromise, commonsense, and rising above partisan politics to make meaningful and balanced change is our duty as legislators. I look forward to voting for this bill and President Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law.” ### |