Jamie Raskin Dodges Question on How ‘Inflation Reduction’ Act Reduces Inflation

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) dodged a question recently on how the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce inflation, as multiple studies have found that it would do little to nothing to reduce inflation.

One reporter asked Raskin, “What parts of the bill do you think will put to work on [lowering inflation] specifically?”

Raskin dodged, saying “next question.”

Despite the bill’s moniker, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the legislation would not reduce inflation, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Budget Model analysis found that the bill would only reduce inflation by 0.1 percent over five years.

Perhaps ironically for Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she has stopped referring to the bill as the “Inflation Reduction Act,” as Senate Republicans managed to strip the name from the bill due to its lack of major budgetary impact. Senate Republicans managed to do this by raising a Byrd Rule objection with the Senate parliamentarian.

Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney noted that just 12 percent of Americans believe that the bill will reduce inflation.

Carney explained:

Just 12 percent of Americans say the bill will reduce inflation. Forty percent say it will increase inflation. Twenty-three percent say it will do nothing. Twenty-five percent say they are not sure what the effect would be.

…

Just one quarter of Democrats say the law will reduce inflation, with another 33 percent saying it will have no effect on inflation and 11 percent saying it will make inflation worse. Among independents, only seven percent say law will reduce inflation, 21 percent say it will have no effect, and 41 percent say it will increase inflation.

Republicans overwhelmingly believe the law will increase inflation. Seventy-two percent said it would increase inflation. Just two percent say it will decrease inflation. Fourteen percent say it will have no effect.

The Penn Wharton Budget Model noted that the bill’s effect on inflation would be “statistically indistinguishable from zero.”