Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, H.R. 5376, to lower inflation, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and implement smart energy policy to reduce emissions and fight climate change. 

“The Inflation Reduction Act delivers meaningful results for Houston families, lowering health care costs, strengthening our economy, and making smart energy and climate investments,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “In particular, I was glad to bring the expertise of the energy capital of the world in crafting a workable program to reduce methane emissions that will make a real impact in the fight against climate change.  The Inflation Reduction Act delivers real, meaningful solutions for some of the most pressing challenges facing our country, and I was glad to vote for it today.”

The Inflation Reduction Act addresses the priorities of Houstonians by:

Health Care 

• Allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, making them more affordable for the more than 63 million Medicare beneficiaries;
• Preventing excessive price hikes for Medicare beneficiaries; 
• Capping Medicare patients’ out of pocket costs at $2,000 per year, with the option to break that amount into affordable monthly payments; and
• Providing $64 billion to extend the enhanced premium tax credits for the Affordable Care Act until 2025, lowering health care premiums for millions of Americans.

Energy & Climate

• Investing in domestic energy production and manufacturing, while reducing carbon emissions; 
• Imposing a fee on greenhouse gas emissions while establishing a grant program that creates a pathway to compliance for operators subject to the fee to deploy emission reduction technologies, evening out the playing field and allowing smaller operators access to capital; and
• Raising the value of the 45Q tax credit for carbon sequestration from $50 to $85 per metric ton of stored CO₂, which will help deploy more carbon management technologies and lead to greater emissions reductions.

Economy

• Fighting inflation by reducing deficit spending by $300 billion in the next ten years and nearly $2 trillion in the next twenty years; and
• Investing $80 billion to strengthen the IRS and enforce tax compliance