The Infrastructure Law Created Two Million Jobs... The Innovation Act Will Create Even More

     I refuse to believe bipartisanship is dead. Just this week, the House has teed up a vote on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which, along with the proposed Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act, will represent the most consequential legislation for America's ocean shipping industry in 25 years. The same week, the Senate took the first steps toward passage of the Honoring Our PACT Act, a $400 billion bill that represents the largest investment in our nation's veterans since the GI Bill. On Friday night, a group of senators reached a bipartisan agreement on long-awaited reforms to the Electoral Count Act, which, while short of the voting rights action we need, will permanently prevent any future presidents from trying to steal an election like Donald Trump did in 2020. At the same time, Congress is working toward passage of compromise gun control legislation in the wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde as well as on a bill to cap the cost of insulin and the 2023 NDAA and Omnibus Appropriations Act.

     But the largest example of this bipartisanship is the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, also known as the America COMPETES Act or the Bipartisan Innovation Act. This bill will invest anywhere from $110 billion to $350 billion strengthening America's supply chains, lowering costs, protecting the environment, fighting climate change, restoring Made-In-America manufacturing, bolstering science and engineering, competing with China, and so much more. This bill will create jobs, as well. The American Rescue Plan Act, this bill a partisan one, put the United States on track to restore pre-pandemic employment by creating 10 million jobs. Another major bipartisan achievement, the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was the largest and most comprehensive investment in our nation's infrastructure in U.S. history, is creating two million jobs. In a landmark study published in May, it was revealed that the Bipartisan Innovation Act will create or retain three million American jobs, even more than the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for a fraction of the cost.

     The Bipartisan Innovation Act is not everything it will take to lower costs, but it is the biggest and best step possible. One thing of note on inflation: while it appears inflation has peaked, costs are not coming down fast enough. The bright spot to May's Consumer Price Index is that "core inflation," one key measure of inflation, is declining. Meat, produce, vehicles, and other items are no longer seeing skyrocketing prices. The one main barrier to lowering costs is the price of gas. Putin's genocide in Ukraine and corporate price gouging are costing the entire developed world financially. The best solution to this is to pass President Biden's energy and deficit reduction portions of the Build Back Better Agenda. If we can achieve this and the social safety net portion before the end of this year, we will be on track to make historic social and economic progress for the decade to come.