Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), in an interview on MSNBC today outlined how the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will benefit New Jersey by lowering the cost of prescription drugs for 1.6 million seniors, tackling the existential threat of climate change, and reducing costs for New Jersey families through fighting inflation and job creation. He specifically noted provisions he authored such as the new out-of-pocket cap for seniors as well as a “smoothing” provision that will allow Medicare beneficiaries to pay for their prescription drugs in installments over the course of a year.
“The reconciliation [bill] does a lot of good things. For example, it ultimately will reduce for 1.6 million seniors in New Jersey and 60 to 65 million seniors across the country the cost of prescription drugs. [It] includ[es] provisions that I wrote, which creates a cap for seniors for out-of-pocket expenses and a smoothing provision to make sure that to the extent that they do have to pay for any of it, they can do it over a period of time so that they’re not shocked by prices,” said Sen. Menendez. “It will [also] deal with the existential threat of climate change […] and it will create a lot of great jobs.”
[WATCH FULL INTERVIEW HERE]
The Senator also warned that Republican-led immigration amendments, such as an amendment to extend Title 42, could threaten passage of the entire bill. He has reminded Democrats throughout the week that they must stand united against any such amendments.
“So while this is not a perfect bill – I would have liked to have seen SALT in it to help middle class taxpayers get relief – I certainly cannot support it, if extraneous provisions get adopted, particularly pejorative immigration provisions that have nothing to do with the health, welfare and security of the American people,” the Senator added.
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