Over the weekend, North Carolina’s Republican Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr voted against President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which will lower the cost of prescription drugs, reduce the deficit, and fight rising costs without raising taxes a single penny on middle class families. 

In a new piece, the News & Observer’s Editorial Board highlights how the Inflation Reduction Act will help North Carolinians and calls out Tillis and Burr for voting against this critical legislation. 

News & Observer: The Inflation Reduction Act will help NC. Our senators voted against it.

The Editorial Board
08.09.22 

• The bill is more than 750 pages long and full of initiatives for renewable energy and health care that are going to help North Carolinians. It’s something to celebrate — even if our own senators failed to step up and support the legislation, just like the other 48 Republicans in the Senate.

• For the 1.97 million North Carolinians on Medicare, which benefits people over 65 or with long-term disabilities, the legislation will save them money on the things they need to keep living. The bill also caps the out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare users at $2,000 — which would save the average Medicare Fee-for-Service user in North Carolina more than $13,000, and the average Medicare Advantage user more than $9,000. That plan goes into effect in 2025.

• The other noteworthy parts of the bill are related to climate change. Even if the Inflation Reduction Act isn’t as comprehensive as climate activists envisioned, the legislation is the largest federal move on climate change ever. There are subsidies for purchasing electric vehicles, as well as manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines. These are all things that North Carolina has been looking toward expanding in recent years, whether by welcoming car manufacturer VinFast or growing to be one of the top states in the country for solar power.

• While Senate Democrats are celebrating this win, both Richard Burr and Thom Tillis voted against the entire bill, as well as an amendment that capped the cost of insulin for those with private insurance at $35. Diabetes affects more than 12 percent of the state’s adult population and almost a quarter of the population over 65, according to data from the United Health Foundation. Republicans led the charge to kill the amendment.

• The Inflation Reduction Act will likely go to a vote in the U.S. House this week. While we don’t anticipate North Carolina Republicans to stray from the party, we hope that they don’t take credit for any of these benefits down the road.

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