A Livingston County woman was among a crowd of thousands gathered on the White House South Lawn Tuesday to celebrate last month’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Elizabeth Hauptman of Brighton is a field coordinator for the Moms Clean Air Force, a network of state-based community organizers, who work on national and local policy issues surrounding air pollution and climate change.
She was invited to attend the event along with other climate activists. Speaking to the Mike and Jon podcast on Tuesday morning prior to the ceremony, Hauptman said the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is this single biggest investment in climate communities, clean energy and jobs ever made.
“It’ll lower cost for families and will help slash climate pollution in the U.S. by an estimated 40% by the end of the decade,” she said. “So that is huge for many families. Not only is this going to take emissions and help clean up our air and our water in our environment, but this will also save money for families, which is great.”
The legislation, which passed with only Democratic votes in Congress, included the largest federal investment in history to fight climate change, estimated to be approximately $375 billion over the next decade. It will also cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 out-of-pocket annually for Medicare recipients, while helping an estimated 13 million Americans pay for health care insurance by extending subsidies provided during the pandemic.
The measure will be paid for by new taxes on large companies and stepped-up IRS enforcement on wealthy individuals and entities.
The event celebrating the legislation came on the same day a new government report highlighted the difficulties in trying to curb inflation, showing inflation at 8.3% year-to-year, though just 0.1%. from July to August.
U.S. stock indices fell sharply on the inflation report, with the benchmark S&P 500 down more than 4.3% on Tuesday.
