Coons: Senate Democrats have ‘stayed unified’ on reconciliation bill

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Sunday said he has “no doubt at all” that the Inflation Reduction Act will pass as Democratic senators continue to kill off amendments to the bill as part of an around-the-clock series of votes known as a vote-a-rama.

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Coons said that Senate Democrats have “stayed unified” all night to fight off Republican efforts to strike down the bill.

“The Democrats in our Senate caucus have stayed unified throughout the night,” he said. “Every single amendment vote of the dozens we’ve taken so far we’ve defeated Republican efforts to knock down this important, even landmark piece of legislation that will reduce prescription drug prices, reduce health care costs, reduce the deficit and make a big down payment on combatting climate change.”

When asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether it is fair to call it the Inflation Reduction Act, noting that Congressional Budget Office says the bill’s going to have a negligible effect on inflation this year, Coons said it would reduce costs.

“This is going to reduce the costs that hit American families in their pocketbook,” he said. “Prescription drug costs, health care costs, energy costs. It’s going to make for a more secure and stable and cleaner and more affordable future for American families.”

Coons said that while the country may not see huge impacts on inflation in the first or second year, Treasury secretaries who have served both party administrations support the bill and that the AARP confirmed that it would impact prescription drug prices.

“It may take a year or more,” he said. “But, look, George, we’ve seen gas prices come down week after week after week for the last five weeks in a row…Yes, inflation is higher than it should be, but we just got a robust jobs number, more than 500,000 jobs created in this past month. Unemployment’s the lowest it’s been in my lifetime. And I think we’ve got a strong economy, a strong recovery underway.”

The Senate will continue its vote-a-rama toward midday Sunday.