Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Buffalo on Wednesday as part of the Biden administration’s push to tout the Inflation Reduction Act.
The White House announced Monday that Harris will travel to Buffalo "to host an event focused on the Inflation Reduction Act." It did not say where the event will take place, but did say it will be open to pre-credentialed media.
The $750 million health care, tax and climate bill was signed into law by Biden last month. Although it falls short of what progressive Democrats and climate activists had hoped for, it’s the largest federal clean energy investment in American history, boosting manufacturing of solar panels and wind turbines and providing tax credits for electric vehicles.
It also allows the federal government for the first time to negotiate prices of certain prescription drugs, and establishes a 15% minimum tax for corporations making $1 billion or more in income.
Despite being called the Inflation Reduction Act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the bill will have anegligible effect on inflation this year and next.
Still, it’s perhaps Biden and Democrats’ biggest legislative victory ahead of the November midterms. The White House previously said administration members will travel across the U.S. to tout the legislation's impact, including cabinet members visiting 23 states in the month of August.
It will be the second time Harris has visited Buffalo as vice president and the second time in the last four months. She attended the May 28 funeral of Ruth Whitfield, one of 10 victims of the May 14 racist mass shooting at the Tops Mark on Jefferson Avenue.
During that trip, Harris told reporters she supported a federal ban on assault weapons like the AR-15 used in the Tops shooting.
