Top Democrat Clyburn: $740 billion spending-tax bill will be issue in midterm elections

South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the House Democrat Whip, said that the $740 billion bill called the Inflation Reduction Act that passed the House on Friday evening will be a major issue in this fall’s midterm elections.

The bill passed on a party line 220-206 vote

In fact, the Democrat said that what happens in those elections will be a mandate on the future of the bill, which will add 87,000 agents to the Internal Revenue Service, install price requirements for some health care and tax credits for green energy.

"In November, it could very well be that you elect a group that will cut this bill off before it ever gets started," Clyburn said Friday morning. "So the question is very clear: Do you want to see this legislation put in place in 2023 or do you want to see it repealed come 2023? Just that simple."

The bill will head to President Joe Biden, who currently in vacationing in South Carolina, for his signature next week.

It includes tax credits for manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and green energy technologies and places caps on prescription drug prices and the summary says there are "no new taxes on families making $400,000 or less and no new taxes on small businesses — we are closing tax loopholes and enforcing the tax code."

Earlier this week, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster spoke out against the bill, which McMaster said that he believes will further increase the $30.59 trillion national debt.

"There is never a good time to raise taxes," McMaster said. "We are taxed enough. What we need to do is spend the money on the right things."

Graham criticized the IRS increases, saying that the department will be larger than the British Army, which includes 80,976 full-time troops, along with 52,600 in the reserves.

"I think we need a bigger British Army and a smaller IRS," Graham said.

Clyburn said that he hopes the cap on insulin costs of $35 per month for Medicare recipients can be extended to become a private insurance requirement in the future, something that he said was blocked by Senate Republicans.

He said that Democrats look to improve legislation rather than attempting to repeal it.

"We are putting people over politics of health care," Clyburn said. "That’s a decision … Rather than try to repeal it, we try to improve it."