Rep. Susan Wild’s vote for the Inflation Reduction Act benefits her district’s residents

Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild voted for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which boosted clean energy infrastructure, capped out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries, and authorized drug price negotiations that are set to save the federal government and older Americans billions of dollars. Her Republican challenger, state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, is attacking her for doing so.

Mackenzie won the Republican primary in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District in April and will face Wild in November in what is expected to be a competitive race.

The Democratic majorities in Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act over the no votes of every Republican member; Vice President Kamala Harris broke a tie vote in the Senate. President Joe Biden signed the package into law in August 2022. 

On his campaign website, Mackenzie criticizes Wild’s vote for the law, claiming she “Voted for a new natural gas [sic] that would cost Pennsylvania jobs and increase consumer energy costs by as much as 20%.” 

“SUSAN WILD Supported Biden’s failed Inflation Reduction Act,” he posted on social media in November 2023, baselessly claiming the law “hurt Pennsylvanians with continued rising costs and increasing interest rates.”

In fact, the Inflation Reduction Act has already paid dividends for 7th District residents and will soon cut their costs even more.

The nonpartisan Rocky Mountain Institute estimated in February 2023 that Pennsylvania could gain nearly 44,000 jobs by 2030 due to the law.

Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey announced in July that an Inflation Reduction Act Domestic Manufacturing Conversion grant to Volvo Mack Trucks would support a clean vehicle manufacturing plant in Macungie, creating 295 union jobs. “Mack Trucks is a uniquely American brand and a model of the manufacturing excellence the Lehigh Valley is known for,” Wild told the newsite The Keystone at the time. “I’m thrilled to have helped secure this funding, which will not only help Mack meet the moment and revitalize their day-to-day operations, but will retain and create thousands of good-paying, union jobs.”

The law has already capped the monthly out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 for the roughly 53,000 Medicare Part D beneficiaries who reside in Pennsylvania’s 7th District. An estimated 4,900 are already benefiting from the cap, saving $510 annually. 

Starting in 2025, Part D beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket prescription drug copayments will also be capped at $2,000 annually. 

On Aug. 15, the Biden-Harris administration announced that, thanks to the provision in the law authorizing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, the cost of 10 common medications for Part D subscribers would drop in 2026. The agreements are expected to save beneficiaries $1.5 billion that year and save the government $6 billion.

A day later, Wild celebrated the successes of the law in a press release on its second anniversary: “Inflation Reduction Act is a landmark law that is helping lower costs for hardworking Americans and build an economy that works for everyone. From capping the price of life-saving prescription drugs to creating good-paying, union jobs in our district, the IRA is making a real difference in our community, commonwealth, and country. I’ll keep fighting to pass commonsense legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and secure critical investments to bolster our local economy and lower costs for Lehigh Valley families.”

A spokesperson for Mackenzie did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

So far in this campaign, Mackenzie has received at least $5,000 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee. The Chamber, a corporate lobbying group whose members include drug manufacturers, has opposed price negotiations as “giving unelected federal bureaucrats the authority to set arbitrary price controls on lifesaving medicines.”