Lankford Strongly Opposes Democrats’ Tax and Spend Bill

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today opposed Democrats’ so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” of 2022. Lankford, ahead of a series of amendment votes referred to as a vote-a-rama, spoke on the Senate floor to reinforce that the Inflation Reduction Act does not reduce inflation and does not decrease the deficit. The bill passed by a vote of 50-50, with the Vice President breaking the tie.

“A bill that increases taxes on American businesses, adds a new gas tax, hurts our oil and gas companies, hires thousands of additional IRS auditors to target all incomes, gives multimillion-dollar tax breaks to benefit Tesla, and raises the costs to heat our homes, will not reduce inflation,” said Lankford. “Americans face record-high inflation because Democrats are obsessed with finding ways to pass the Green New Deal, hand out new subsidies, and raise taxes. They refuse to accept the reality that Americans are not happy with the economy. This bill doesn’t reduce inflation; it doesn’t reduce our nation’s out-of-control deficit; it gives the federal government unilateral control over which drugs will come to market, forcing drug companies to launch at higher prices; and it will hurt our energy future. I am absolutely opposed to the damage this bill will do to our economy and Oklahoma families.”

After standing against the previous versions of this terrible bill, Lankford has also pointed out several flaws and budget gimmicks in the Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act” including almost three-quarters of a trillion dollars in new spending, taking Medicare savings away from seniors, and giving health care subsidies to families making more than $200,000 a year.

Lankford offered an amendment to take $1 million out of the health care slush fund for FY2023 and use it to maintain Title 42 authority at our southern border. The amendment failed by a vote of 50-50. Lankford also offered an amendment to exempt traditional energy cost recovery allowances, including percentage depletion, intangible drilling costs, geological and geophysical expenditures, natural gas gathering lines, and others from the book minimum tax. His amendment failed in a vote of 50-50.

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