The House voted Friday in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act — a social spending and tax hike bill — and the fallout from its passage could imperil Democrats facing tough election or re-election battles against Republican opponents. . The measure, which passed the Senate over the weekend on a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris, received support from all House Democrats, voting 220-207 on Friday. All but three House Republicans voted against passage of the bill, which now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature. Three Republicans did not vote for the measure. Key elements of the measure, agreed to and introduced by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., last month, include expanding Affordable Care Act subsidies, a series of climate-related spending and tax credits; provisions on fossil fuel energy, a minimum corporate tax rate of 15% and more. DEMOCRATS’ CURING INFLATION ACT WILL MEAN LOWER WAGES FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS Left to right: Vulnerable Democratic Reps. Henry Cuella of Texas, Cindy Axne of Iowa, Tom O’Haleran of Arizona and Marci Kaptur of Ohio. (Kevin Dietsch, Zach Gibson, Angelo Merendino, Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images) Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesman Tommy Garcia told Fox News Digital that the legislation “puts people before politics” and accused the GOP of lying about “provisions of the bill to scare voters ». “Democrats delivered widely popular legislation that puts people above politics, lowers prescription drug and health care costs, cuts the deficit, fights inflation and boosts American energy production – all without raising taxes on families who they make less than $400,000,” Garcia said. “Republicans chose to play politics, lie about the bill’s provisions to scare voters, and did nothing to address the challenges facing American families: showing voters that Democrats are the only ones fighting to bring solutions for the people”. Instead, Mike Berg, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, insisted the bill does nothing to reduce inflation and that voters will go to the polls in November to hold Democrats accountable. ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THE DEINFLATION ACT WILL REDUCE ANNUAL INFLATION BY ONLY 0.1 PERCENTAGE POINTS “This bill does nothing to fight inflation, raises taxes and hires an Army of IRS agents to harass the middle class,” Berg said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Voters will fire any vulnerable Democrat who supports the Democrats’ latest reckless spree.” Earlier this week, Fox News Digital reached out to 20 of the House’s most vulnerable Democrats to see if they planned to vote for the bill and to ask for reaction to a part of the bill that provides funding for more IRS agents. None of them responded. The Internal Revenue Service headquarters building in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The measure also includes $80 billion aid to the IRS over a 10-year period, with more than half intended to help the agency fight tax evasion. The increase in IRS funding is planned to help fill 87,000 IRS positions, greatly expanding the size of the agency. In a statement to Fox News Digital this week, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., insisted that “no family making less than $400,000 will immediately pay higher taxes” and that the increase in funding for the IRS will be used to “transport sophisticated wealthy individuals and large tax-dodging corporations so they can finally pay their fair share.” Senate Democrats predicted that boosting IRS funding could add an additional $124 billion in federal revenue over the next decade by hiring more tax officials who can crack down on wealthy individuals and corporations trying to evade taxes. AMERICANS ARE AFRAID NOT TO USE OR NOT TO USE DEFLATION FUNDING TO CONTROL MIDDLE AND LOWER INCOME TAXPAYERS But Republicans warn the bill would fund an “army” of IRS agents to crack down on small business owners and lower-income workers. Americans making less than $75,000 a year are set to receive 60 percent of the additional tax cuts expected under the Democratic spending package, according to an analysis released by House Republicans. The US Capitol in Washington, DC (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc) A Penn Wharton analysis of the University of Pennsylvania released Friday found that the Inflation Reduction Act would do little to reduce the annual rate of inflation amid the economic downturn. The bill would reduce annual inflation by just 0.1 percentage point over the next five years. Late last month, the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) revealed in an analysis that the Cut Inflation Act would raise taxes by billions of dollars, including on middle-class earners. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP According to the JCT, Americans making less than $10,000 a year would see a 0.3% tax increase starting in 2023. In total, starting in 2023, taxes would increase by $16.7 billion for Americans making less than $200,000. For taxpayers earning between $200,000 and $500,000, the bill would raise taxes by a cumulative $14.1 billion. President Biden he pledged repeatedly during the election campaign, even as president, not to increase taxes to Americans earning less than $400,000. Fox News’ Tyler Olson, Jessica Chasmar, Megan Henney and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report. Kyle Morris covers politics for Fox News. On Twitter: @RealKyleMorris.
