In a historic achievement, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on August 16, 2022.
This bill, was recently thought to be on life support with very little chance of congressional passage. It is a sprawling piece of legislation. Also, it lowers prescription drug costs for those covered by Medicare and raises taxes on large corporations. It also represents the largest climate investment in American history. A preliminary assessment was done by the Rhodium Group. It estimates that it can reduce net U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 31%-44% below 2005 levels by 2030, as compared to 24%-35% under current policy. According to the White House, the IRA will also reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Specifically, it will raise over $700 billion in revenue for the federal government over the next 10 years, some of which will be put toward paying down the national debt and some of which will go toward lowering carbon emissions and extending subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Among the mountain of provisions in the IRA is also language that reforms the oil and gas industry for the first time in decades. As POGO has been advocating for since the 1990s, it is imperative that the administration, specifically the Department of the Interior, take meaningful steps to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are paid their fair share for industry’s use of public lands.
Here’s our take on the good and the bad. Learn more when it comes to the oil and gas provisions in the IRA.
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Source: POGO
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