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| President Joe Biden signed the "Inflation Reduction Act" Tuesday, but don't get your hopes up about paying less for gas or groceries – not anytime soon, anyway. |
| The new law will do a lot of things, including raising taxes, hugely expanding the size of the IRS, and combating climate change with billions in new spending. |
| What it won't do is touch inflation, which despite Biden's claims, is far from "zero." Inflation has fallen slightly from June, yet it remains at a 40-year-high, with no real relief in sight. Read my recent column to learn more about why you shouldn't believe Democrats' tales. |
 | | President Joe Biden speaks before signing the Democrats' landmark climate change and health care bill in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022. | | Susan Walsh, AP | |
| Something else I'll be watching closely in the coming days is how the president moves forward with student loan forgiveness, because this will show whether he's serious about reducing inflation. |
| White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week that Biden will have a definitive plan for cancellation by Aug. 31, when the latest student loan payment pause expires. Since the start of the pandemic, Americans with federal student loans have been off the hook, and Biden has extended the pause four times so far. |
| My guess is that Biden will punt on making this call now and just continue the moratorium to get Democrats past the midterms. |
| Progressives are pressuring Biden to forgive the debt of a large swath of borrowers, but this would only fuel inflation by pouring more money into the economy. |
| The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has warned against any kind of blanket loan forgiveness and says the ongoing payment pause and targeted cancellations have already cost taxpayers more than $150 billion. |
| If Biden and the Democrats really care about getting inflation under control, they need to start proving it. |
| -Ingrid Jacques |
What has Ingrid been writing, you ask? |
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Do our leaders know how it feels to choose between food and medicine? |
| By Angelina Scott |
 | | Angelina Scott, left, and her husband, Matthew Scott, in March 2022 in Augusta, Ga. | | Provided | |
| Like so many others, the exorbitant cost of my medications and health care has pushed my family into poverty and, at times, endangered my life. I have several serious health conditions that require medication, including an irregular heartbeat due to atrial fibrillation. I also have high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome and gastroesophageal reflux disease. |
| My husband and I work hard, but the cost of managing these conditions is out of our reach and we struggle mightily. I pay high co-pays each time I need to see a doctor, which is often. At times, refilling my prescriptions has cost hundreds of dollars each month. |
What other columns do you need to be reading? These. |
| ►We know the next pandemic outbreak is a question of when, not if. Time is of the essence to intensify collaboration and boost local manufacturing. |
| ►Polarization is not merely a problem of our failure to recognize the same facts. It is a problem of interpretation, identification and tribalization. |
| ►Abortion was not consistent with my values. But the anti-abortion movement did not offer me any assistance when I raised my child. |
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