CNN’s John Avlon on Thursday claimed that criticism of the Inflation Reduction Act’s name "misses the point," and hailed the law, arguing that people should stop "obsessing over short-term problems" like inflation.
During a "Reality Check" on CNN’s "New Day" with John Berman and Brianna Keilar, Avlon went to bat for the "landmark" Inflation Reduction Act, the massive Democratic spending bill that tackles climate, healthcare and energy.
"Critics groused that it was fundamentally misnamed because it didn’t do much too directly reduce inflation. But that almost misses the point," Avlon began. "Because this is legislation to tackle long-term problems like healthcare costs, energy innovation, combating climate change—all while raising revenue to reduce the deficit."
Avlon added that it might "seem crazy," but the legislation could prove that good policy can be good politics.
He then continued on, citing statistics that backed up the claim the American public widely support a number of provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, such as capping out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, providing tax rebates for energy-efficient vehicle purchases, and funding more research into renewable energy. Avlon also hit back at concerns about how the Inflation Reduction Act would generate revenue, through taxes on large corporations, taxes on stock buybacks, and boosting the IRS’s ability to collect.
"Raising more revenue to pay for a plan is something that used to be called fiscal responsibility, what a concept," he said.
Avlon claimed that despite the name on the bill, inflation is actually a problem that the Federal Reserve should tackle.
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"Now I’m mentioning all this because we so often obsess over short-term problems that we miss the bigger picture. And despite all the very real threats to our democracy right now, bipartisan progress is still possible in Congress. And there’s still reason to remain a determined optimist," Avlon concluded.
President Biden signed the $739-billion Inflation Reduction Act into law on Tuesday. About $369 billion of that money will go toward investments in "Energy Security and Climate Change." But, despite its name, multiple analyses concluded that the legislation will have little or no impact on inflation in the short term.
Yet, this fact was not widely realized by the media until the legislation was on the verge of passage.
