This is as Bad as it Gets; Our Government at its Worst

On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) became law.  It was passed in the U.S. Senate by a 50/50 vote, with VP Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.  Not a single Republican Senator voted for this legislation.  At that time, Joe Biden narrowly led Donald Trump in most presidential opinion polls: https://emersoncollegepolling.com/august-national-poll-biden-bounces-back-on-approval-and-2024-ballot-voters-split-on-student-debt-relief-and-student-loan-program-value/ .  Although the Democrats and their media allies felt confident in August of 2022 about their re-election, the nation was in reality very divided.  This bill was clearly an effort by Biden and the Democrats to throw some money at their base supporters and firm up their foundation for the upcoming national elections.  And that is precisely what they did.

 

At that time, the inflation rate was 8.3 percent.  America was easing out from under the COVID shutdown-blanketing aftereffects and this bill was deceptively titled INFLATION Reduction Act in order to improve its chances for passage.  The Democrats controlled the House and with the VP vote, effectively controlled the Senate.  This was the ultimate pork-laden legislation, passed on a strictly partisan basis, falsely promoted as something that it clearly was not, and was slipped in during the waning moments of the government’s COVID recovery efforts.   In my lifetime, I honestly believe that this is the worst example of irresponsible federal spending that has ever occurred.  The scope of this legislation; the width and breadth of it; the BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars absolutely wasted and handed out in a corrupt and political fashion; the way it was deceptively sold to the American public and passed on a partisan basis….all of these facts leads to the inescapable conclusion that this must go down perhaps as the most corruptive government boondoggle in the history of the United States.  Keep this mind…the “official” outlay cost of the bill was around $400 billion, but the “actual costs” were widely estimated to be in the TRILLIONS of dollars.  This package came from a government that was running record fiscal deficits and was saddling future generations with astronomical federal debt.  This is ONE billion: $1,000,000,000.  This is ONE trillion: $1,000,000,000,000.  Some estimates (links below) estimate the true cost of this bill at $4.7 trillion dollars. 

 

The gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 for America was slightly above $26 trillion.  The GDP is the TOTAL value of ALL economic activity, including goods and services.  At the time this bill was passed, August of 2022, the federal deficit was $1.4 trillion and the federal debt was about $31.5 trillion.  A more blatant and irresponsible action by our government is hard to imagine.  But from here, it just gets worse.

 

Before dealing with the aftermath of this debacle, here are some good sources to establish the facts surrounding this episode.

 

Here is a Forbes summary of what was in the bill: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/inflation-reduction-act/

 

Here is the actual text of the bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5376/text

 

Here are the Senate roll call vote results on the bill: https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1172/vote_117_2_00325.htm

 

Following the passage of this legislation, the Biden Administration and the Democrats were ebullient.  They had passed their crown jewel of federal spending, financially rewarded all of their supporters, blown federal spending through the roof, and had invested the future of our nation in the Green New Deal.  As far as they were concerned, there was nothing but blue skies ahead.  But then there was the Biden/Trump debate debacle and shortly thereafter, the withdrawal of Biden and the replacement of him with Kamala Harris.  Panic began to set in for the Biden Administration and their progressive cohorts.

 

As the 2024 national elections approached, that panic deepened.  In the fall of 2024, with the election imminent, it suddenly occurred to the Biden Administration that the allocation of the IRA funds had to be completed by September 30, 2024.  The chilling fear for them was that if Harris lost the election, that money would be frozen and clawed back.  The insidious scheme that the Biden Administration came up with to spend these tax dollars…when and on whom they desired…is effectively illustrated by this article.  Please note the source of the article. It is not FoxNews or Newsmax; it is the Real Clear Politics website…heralded for its objectivity and bipartisanship: https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/03/13/a_new_beltway_mystery_follow_the_biden_epa_money_1097269.html  

 

As bad as it is, add this concerning layer to the already disgusting behavior of the past President and his cronies…Exactly who was actually deciding where this money was sent and how much each of the recipients got?  Anyone who was paying any attention at all to the president’s mental state at that time knew that he was incapable of managing his own underwear, much less the expanse of federal spending.  The cold reality is that someone behind the scenes doled out around $27 billion through a slush fund to selected entities…who were clearly chosen for their partisan and ideological (i.e. green) agendas.  Note that many of these recipients of billions in federal funding were so-called non-profit organizations created literally weeks before receiving the money. 

 

To bring this deplorable and irresponsible scenario full circle…here is the information put out by the Biden Administration regarding exactly what the IRA would do for America: https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-inflation-reduction-acts-benefits-and-costs

 

Here is the reality of what the bill will do, who will get the benefits, and what it will ultimately end up costing our future generations: https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/budgetary-cost-inflation-reduction-acts-energy-subsidies

 

There is no doubt in my mind that the DOGE effort will cut some important meat out of our government along with a generous portion of fat; they will make some critical mistakes in their efforts to shrink our government and make it more efficient.  But I would challenge any person who takes the time to consider the facts surrounding the IRA legislation…and then takes the position that the time to significantly cut our federal spending has not arrived.  After reading how the IRA has transpired and how the “gold bars were thrown off the deck of the Titanic”…a reasonable person must reach the conclusion that a lot of people in the Biden Administration got some kickbacks in this deal and a lot of Democrat Party supporters got rewarded.  Elon Musk…lay down your chainsaw and pick up your flamethrower!

 

I have gone on record stating that in my opinion, Trump’s best path forward is taking his four years in office to look ahead and pursue new initiatives, rather than looking back and pursuing old vendettas.  But in the case of the IRA legislation, somebody needs to go to jail.