Sometimes good things don’t get the exposure they need. Here are some things to feel good about.
Infrastructure and Jobs Act, signed into law in November 2021, brought $1.2 billion into New Hampshire for road and bridge repair, expanded broadband, clean drinking water, protection from wildfires and cyberattacks, public transportation and airport improvement, charging stations, renewable agricultural practices, and help addressing climate change.
Postal Reform Act was signed into law in April 2022, saving the Post Office $53 billion by eliminating the onerous requirement enacted in 2006 that required the USPS to pre-fund retiree benefits up to 75 years in the future. The law also integrated postal employees into Medicare, saving another $22 billion.
The Office of Management and Budget forecasts this year’s deficit will decline by $1.7 trillion, representing the single largest decline in the federal deficit in American history.
Indo-Pacific Initiative: In May, in Japan, Biden and a dozen Indo-Pacific nations announced a new, loose economic bloc, one that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has called “by any account the most significant international economic engagement that the United States has ever had in this region.”
The bloc includes the US, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, but not Taiwan. These countries represent about 40% of the global economy. The new plan promised to streamline supply chains, back clean energy, fight corruption, and expand technology transfers.
CHIPS Act: On August 8, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 into law. The new measure will provide $52.7 billion in subsidies to semiconductor production in the US and invest in science and technology.
On August 29, Honda and LG Energy Solution announced they would spend $4.4 billion to construct a new battery plant in the US to join the plants General Motors is building in Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee; the ones Ford is building in Kentucky and Tennessee; the one Toyota is building in North Carolina; and the one Stellantis is building in Indiana. The plants are part of the switch to electric vehicles.
The PACT Act, signed by President Biden on August 8, expands Veterans Administration healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.
For more details on who is eligible and how to apply, visit TinyURL.com/n6xr2bx5
or call 800 698-2411.
National and Worldwide Gas Prices: Not “good,” but gives you a worldwide perspective. Eight of the largest oil companies in the country made a record-breaking $51 billion in profit in the second quarter of 2022. This marks a 235% increase over the same quarter in 2021.
Inflation Reduction Act
Lots of misinformation surrounds this new law. All Republicans in the House and Senate voted against it. The information below comes from an article by Nirupama Rao, an economist from the University of Michigan; the Associated Press; and the Joint Committee on Taxation. You can also see a good summary from the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, at GovTrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr5376/summary.
Cost of the IRA: There are two components – new revenue (about $740 billion) and new spending (about $440 billion) leaving a difference of $300 billion to reduce the deficit.
New Revenue
• 15% Corporate Minimum Tax for the estimated 150 companies who report billions in profit
• Negotiating drug prices for Medicare
• IRS Tax Enforcement targeting individuals with incomes over $400,000. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig have both pledged that the investments will not lift audit rates on small businesses and households earning less than $400,000 a year.
• 1% Stock Buybacks Fee
• New fees on excess methane emissions
New Spending
• Capping Medicare insulin cost at $35 per month and Medicare out of pocket prescription costs at $2,000 per year
• Extending the increased federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act for three years, helping 13 million people pay for medical insurance
• Tax rebates for electric vehicles, including used vehicles, with limits that mandate that component parts be manufactured and assembled in the US
• Ten-year consumer tax credits for renewable wind and solar energy, and tax credits for businesses for nuclear energy and carbon capture technology and for clean energy manufacturing
• Funds to combat the mega drought situation in the West, including conservation efforts of the Colorado River
2020 Election
There is an analysis of the 2020 election done by a group of respected conservative Republicans. Eight prominent conservatives released a report in July of 2022 examining “every claim of fraud and miscount put forward by former President Trump and his advocates” following the 2020 presidential election and reached an “unequivocal” conclusion: “Joe Biden was the choice of a majority of the Electors, who themselves were the choice of the majority of voters in their states.”
To read the report and each specific analysis of claims in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, visit LostNotStolen.org.