Build Back Better Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5376, the Inflation Reduction Act. For years, Americans have faced rising costs at grocery stores, pharmacies, and in recent months, at the gas pump. Today, we will send this legislation to the President's desk to be signed into law so we can provide necessary relief to hardworking people across the country.

The Inflation Reduction Act takes historic steps to reduce the deficit and fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and tackle the climate crisis by reducing carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030. The bill will also lower prescription drug and health care costs by finally allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and extending the expanded Affordable Care Act program for three years.

Notably, this legislation makes sure that the biggest corporations and billionaires pay taxes. It establishes a 15 percent corporate minimum tax and invests in Internal Revenue Service tax enforcement to ensure that the biggest corporations, the ultra-wealthy, and rich tax cheats pay their fair share. Large corporations have been using inflation as an excuse to abuse their market power, jacking up prices for American consumers at the grocery store, the pharmacy, and at the gas pump. This law puts taxpayer dollars back into the pockets of working families.

My vote today comes with a promise to my constituents in Connecticut and to the American people--I will continue the fight for common sense, proven solutions like the Child Tax Credit in the days and weeks to come. As I have said before, as American families face rising costs, the expanded Child Tax Credit is one of our best tools to help them face these challenges. We still have so much work to do to address the problems being faced today by working families.

Today is an important step forward, and I am proud to cast my vote in support of this critical legislation.

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