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The Inflation Reduction Act: Standing at a Double-cross Roads
The article first appeared on August 16, 2023 on Civil Notion.
It’s time to wish the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) a happy birthday. A year ago, President Biden signed the oddly named act into law — a name that even Biden has trouble relating to what the law is accomplishing. As described by the president at a recent fundraiser in New Mexico:
“It has nothing to do with inflation. It has to do with…the single-largest investment in climate change anywhere in the world, anywhere. No one has ever, ever spent that. And it’s beginning to take hold.”
The federal investment of $370 billion and what it is accomplishing is a message that Biden will be taking on the road between now and next November.
The IRA is one of a trinity of climate-related legislation passed by the 117th Congress. The two other pieces are the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the CHIPS and Science Act. Unlike its companions, the IRA was exclusively the work of the Democrats. Ironically, at least to this point, the states benefitting most from the legislation are ruby red in color.
A study by the Financial Times found that “more than 80 percent of investment in large-scale clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing pledged since last year’s passage of the Inflation…
