In most democratic countries, the transition from one leader to another happens as soon as the votes are tabulated. Near the end of World War II (the Allies were still actively fighting Japan), Winston Churchill was voted out of office. His successor, Clement Atlee, immediately took Churchill’s place at the Potsdam Conference alongside Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin.
Unfortunately, that isn’t how we do things in the U.S. There are more than 10 weeks between Election Day and Inauguration Day, which gives the losing side in the election far too much time to operate as a “lame duck” government.
Right now, some on the left talk about Trump-proofing the federal government by ramming through a bunch of bad policies in the weeks before he takes office. For example, the recent defense spending measure was a must-pass bill because it funds our great military. Yet it also included goodies for liberals that will be difficult for Republicans to fix in the months and even years ahead.
Of course, we only have one government at a time, and there is nothing we can do to speed the transition. Yet once it takes over in January, the GOP needs to take swift action to repeal one of the worst (and that is really saying something) of the Biden-era laws: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
That law was enacted without a single Republican vote. It promised to create jobs and reduce prices. Well. Did the prices you pay go down during the Biden administration? They did not.
As for jobs: “Since the original flurry of announced new manufacturing projects in the year after Joe Biden’s industrial and climate policies were passed, the Financial Times reports that over 40 percent of them have been delayed, paused, or canceled,” write economists at the CATO Institute. “And the jobs that have been created cost taxpayers an estimated $2 million to $7 million each.”
They advise repealing the entire law because leaving any part of it in place might empower a future president or Congress to revive its wasteful spending and subsidies.
The other component of the IRA is intervention in medical care. “The law put in place policies that mandate government-set prices for medicines covered by Medicare,” note the experts at Phrma.org. “These policies are expected to have a negative impact on access to medicines covered by Medicare Part B and Part D, in addition to discouraging continued drug development.”
By setting prices too low, the federal government makes it more difficult for doctors to afford to administer medicines. There are already shortages of many common drugs, and the IRA will only make things worse. Meanwhile, there will be fewer drugs in the pipeline.
I have been critical at times of Phrma, yet they are correct to worry that government price setting will hurt consumers. “Some companies are cutting projects and reallocating resources, while others are reconsidering whether to offer medicines in the United States because they may never be able to recoup R&D costs,” a Phrma.org paper concludes. Since it takes years and even decades to develop a drug, any pause in R&D will have long-lasting effects. The incoming GOP congress should consider that and act quickly.
Democrats are great at playing the political games that slow Republicans down. “The White House is doling out billions in infrastructure and manufacturing spending, along with aid to Ukraine,” The Washington Times reported in mid-November. “Agencies are furiously issuing rules, and Democratic senators are trying to expedite confirming Biden-appointed judges, gearing up for upcoming legal fights with the Trump administration.”
It’s all part of their plot to lock in their failed spending policies and then make Republicans look like the bad guys when those policies cause inflation and shortages. Incoming President Trump has the concept of a healthcare plan. Voters want that, not the IRA that the Democrats rammed through in 2022.
The transition is over. Republicans need to act and eliminate the inflationary “Inflation Reduction Act.”
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