Chris Hayes proclaims Biden signing Inflation Reduction Act a 'huge day for the country, the planet, everyone'
The Manchin-Schumer spending bill will have an 'indistinguishable' effect on inflation, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model
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MSNBC Host Chris Hayes expressed joy over President Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act Tuesday, suggesting, "It is also a huge day for the country, for the planet, for Joe Biden, for White House, for everyone."
Biden signed the massive $739 billion social spending, tax and climate change bill into law after it passed both houses of Congress without any Republican votes.
Hayes opened "All In" proclaiming, "It is a big day here at MSNBC in just an hour we’ve got the debut of Alex Wagner Tonight. It is also a huge day for the country, for the planet, for Joe Biden, for the White House, for everyone. Because today President Joe Biden signed - well, the first, as insane as it is to say that, the first true climate bill in this country's history."
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Although it is titled "the Inflation Reduction Act," nonpartisan analysts suggest it will have a barely perceptible impact on inflation and Hayes notably did not tout that aspect of the bill.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a bill signing ceremony where the president is signing "The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022" into law in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 16, 2022. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
By contrast, Hayes credited the bill as "the largest ever piece of American legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions and fighting climate change. It will invest $370 billion dollars to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, and the law will, as well, reduce health care costs, close loopholes on large corporations, and in the end reduce the deficit."
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But from the very name of the bill, Americans could see a dissidence in messaging, to the point reporters were eventually slammed for pivoting and referring to the bill by its environmental and health care policies rather than its actual name.
Findings from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan group at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, show the act would have a "statistically indistinguishable from zero" impact on inflation.
"The Act would very slightly increase inflation until 2024 and decrease inflation thereafter," the analysis summarized. "These point estimates are statistically indistinguishable from zero, thereby indicating low confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation."
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President Joe Biden signs two bills aimed at combating fraud in the COVID-19 small business relief programs Friday, Aug. 5, 2022, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)
The MSNBC host recalled how the bill seemed completely non-viable only a little earlier this year, saying, "This new law, the Inflation Reduction Act, has been a long time in the making. As of just a few weeks ago, it looked dead. Dead, dead, dead… I believed personally. And the people I was reporting with-texting thought it was done. It was not going to happen."
One of the major reasons the bill was able to pass was the involvement of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., coming to an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on a reconciliation bill in late July after more than a year of negotiations.
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Yet even Manchin admitted the same day the legislation was signed that the Inflation Reduction Act won’t "immediately" temper inflation.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks to reporters outside a U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2022. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
When asked by Fox News reporter Hillary Vaughn whether it was misleading to call the bill the "Inflation Reduction Act" because it won’t make everyday goods less expensive, Manchin replied, "Why would it?"
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"Well, immediately it’s not," Manchin admitted. "We've never [said] anything would happen immediately, like turn the switch on and off."