During Thursday night’s broadcast of CNN Tonight, news broke that Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) went public with her support for the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.” Host Laura Coates was elated to announce the news to her viewers when she returned from a commercial break. Her panelists were all enthusiastic about the legislation except Scott Jennings, a Republican CNN political analyst who cautioned his fellow panelists not to do so.
After Coates turned to Jennings for his reaction, he let the leftists on the CNN set have it: “First of all, no games will change until 2026 because the prescription drug provisions don’t kick in until then. So as a political matter, nothing’s going to change.”
“I really think the biggest problem the Democrats have with passing this — you can call it a win — but they’ve named a piece of legislation the Inflation Reduction Act, Jennings noted. “The Congressional Budget Office, the Joint Committee on Taxation have said this will have at best a negligible impact on inflation,” he added.
Jennings predicted that “If you vote on a bill today to say reduce inflation and in two months, three months, when we’re going to the polls and inflation has not come down, you’re gonna own that. And so, I really do think they have a branding issue on this.”
He then surmised that Democrats changed the bill’s name to the Inflation Reduction Act “so that Joe Manchin can go out and claim he did something.”
Continuing to rail against the proposed legislation, Jennings pointed out that “the prescription drug stuff doesn’t happen for years. Jennings pointed out that climate change stuff happens in the future. The main issue is inflation and it does nothing despite the bill’s title.”
Clearly frustrated that facts and logic have seeped into her show, Coates sneered: “Do you think that the voters think to themselves the name is more important than the meat on the bone? I mean really?”
Jennings shot back: I think if you tell people hey we passed a bill called Inflation Reduction Act, and inflation doesn’t go down or maybe it goes up in the short term according to one analysis they might notice because they’re already noticing. It’s the number one issue in the country!”
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To read the relevant transcript click “expand”:
CNN Tonight
August 4, 2022
Eastern 9:34 p.m.SCOTT JENNINGS – First, the prescriptive drug provisions will not kick in before 2026 so no games can be changed until that time. So as a political matter, nothing’s going to change. This is the greatest problem that Democrats have in passing it. You can still call it a victory, but they named one piece of legislation “Inflation Reduction Act”. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office this should have minimal impact on inflation.
Inflation is, in fact, the biggest problem facing the nation. According to polling it is. You’ll own it if you vote today on a bill to reduce inflation. If inflation doesn’t fall in the next two, three, or four months, then you will be able to vote against that bill. This is why I think there’s a branding problem. It is obvious why the name was changed so Joe Manchin could claim that he has done something.
However, that won’t change the fact that voters are experiencing it. Prescription drug stuff is unlikely to happen in the future. It’s all in the future. The main issue is inflation and it does nothing despite the bill’s title.
LAURA COATES. Do you think voters believe the name of the candidate is more important that the quality of the meat? You really mean?
JENNINGS: I think if you tell people hey we passed a bill called Inflation Reduction Act, and inflation doesn’t go down or maybe it goes up in the short term according to one analysis they might notice because they’re already noticing. This is the biggest problem in this country.
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