Biden signs Inflation Reduction Act, notching policy win ahead of midterms

President Joe Biden on Tuesday, signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a $740 billion spending package with provisions for tax and climate initiatives, marking a major policy victory ahead of the November midterms.

Though West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema initially resisted supporting the package, both ultimately backed its passage after the party made adjustments to curry their favor.

"With this law, the American people won and the special interests lost," Biden said at the signing. "For a while people doubted whether any of that was going to happen, but we are in a season of substance."

Manchin announced in late July that he and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had reached a deal on the key tax and climate provisions in the bill. Sinema came to back the plan after Democrats dropped the carried interest tax provision, to which the Arizona senator had objected.

The bill included a plethora of funding allocations on which Republicans pounced. Among them was a national subsidy of $7,500 toward the purchase of electric vehicles, though auto makers warned the domestic sourcing requirements would disqualify nearly every existing electric vehicle on the market.

Of particular irritation to Republicans was a provision that allocated funding to the IRS to hire 87,000 more agents, which many fear will target middle and lower income earners. An IRS job posting stated that prospective agents must "be willing to use deadly force, if necessary." 

Inflation stood at 8.5% in July, down from 9.1% the previous month, though many Republicans have warned that a federal spending spree will cause the metric to rise to new heights.