Wyden touts elements of Inflation Reduction Act

Aug. 14—Days after the U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act, approving hundreds of billions in spending on major Democrat priorities, Sen. Ron Wyden took a victory lap during a call with Oregon media.

Wyden, who authored several of the key elements, in the package that passed the Senate when Vice Pres. Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie, said he was proud of the money to combat climate change, lower drug prices and take on tax cheats.

"I'm proud the legislation is going to pack a 1-2 punch on climate change," Wyden said. "The bill includes my Clean Energy for America legislation and the money for wildfire impact across the state. What the Clean Energy for America bill does is it takes the tax code and throws it in the trash can. It says the more you reduce carbon, the bigger savings you get. The law I wrote is the biggest investment in climate change ever. I've been working on it for a decade, and I'm proud of it."

Wyden said the bill provides $20 billion for farmers who use environmentally-friendly technology, $5 billion to help combat wildfires and $4 billion for drought mitigation.

The legislation also takes a big step toward lowering drug prices, although it did not go as far as Wyden had hoped. The biggest change is Medicare will now be able to negotiate directly with drug makers on pricing.

"Seniors have felt the restriction that big pharma has been able to protect in the Medicare law, the provision that keeps Medicare from negotiating is a curse," Wyden said. "The curse is being lifted now. Obviously big pharma is going to fight this every step of the way. Big pharma is going to fight this in courts and state legislatures.

"The reason pig pharma is going to fight this is it's going to be a seismic shift in way drug prices are set. They will no longer be able to charge what they want."

Wyden said in Oregon, 20,000 seniors now pay $2,000 a year or more for pharmaceuticals. Under the new legislation, there will be monthly cap on what anyone using Medicare has to pay."

One big change is Medicare patients using insulin will have a monthly cap of $35 for the life-saving drug. Wyden said perhaps his biggest disappointment was Republican senators blocked an effort to extend the $35 cap to all Americans who use insulin.

"The Republicans have said for years, we're going to be tough on taking on big pharma on insulin," Wyden said. "When it came to really putting it on the line, when we voted for people in the private sector to get a break, the Republicans folded. You better believe I'm going to make Republicans in the Senate vote on this again and again as chairman of the Finance Committee. Look guys, insulin prices have been going up year after year. Insulin is no different, it's the same product. They are charging more because they can."

Wyden said some of the Medicare changes will begin as early as October, with most starting in 2023.

"We're going to start with the most expensive drugs, the cancer drugs, the arthritis drugs," Wyden said. "This is all going to happen soon. Next year, Medicare selects the top 10 drugs and starts negotiating. Each year, the negotiations go up. To ensure, you're not hampering innovation, when the administrator comes to the table, we have outlined factors they should consider when going into negotiations."

The legislation also provides billions in funding to the IRS to hire 87,000 new agents to take on tax cheats. Wyden said the IRS has not had the funding to do major audits, but that will change now.

"The working person is not usually the issue," Wyden said. "The working person pays taxes."

While there were many elements Wyden was pleased with, he said the climate change funding is the key to the legislation. He said Oregon will benefit greatly because of the new funding available.

"We're going to be the clean energy leader in our region and play a very big role in our country," Wyden said. "Also the billions of dollars for farmers, wildfires and drought will benefit the entire country as well, including Oregon. The whole host of technology is really going to take off in Oregon and the country."

When asked how the legislation will benefit the average consumer or cut inflation, Wyden was prepared.

"We're cutting costs," he said. "What we're doing on prescription drugs is we're cutting costs. We're holding down health insurance premiums. We also know that renewable energy in a lot of instances, especially when there's electricity involved, is less expensive. These are all about steps citizens are telling us to take."

Overall, he said, the legislation is good for America and good for Americans.

"What's on offer here are lower health care costs for seniors, lower carbon emission, beefing up the fight for wealthy tax cheats," he said. "I get that's there's a lot of big lobbyists that have always been able to block that kind of reform. But what Oregonians expect you to do is keep at it and get results. I'm really pleased with the kinds of reforms we've been talking about. It's going to make a big difference in the lives of Oregonians"