“We’re able to say to working Americans, we’re going to actually reduce the cost of prescription drugs.”
BALTIMORE – Yesterday, Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07) joined MSNBC’s PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss Democrats’ signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, as it passed through the 50-50 Senate, along with the President’s tremendous efforts to bring WNBA star Brittney Griner and other Americans back home from their unjust detention in Russia.
INFLATION REDUCTION ACT
REV. SHARPTON: Joining me now, Congressman Kweisi Mfume, Democrat of Maryland. Congressman, thank you for joining us. First, the breaking news, the Senate Democrats', climate, health care, and tax bill having just passed. Your reaction? What does it mean for your Baltimore district?
CONGRESSMAN MFUME: Well, it's a tremendous piece of legislation. It is not Build Back Better. It's a smaller version of it. But in many respects, it's groundbreaking because for once, we're able to say to working Americans, we're going to actually reduce the cost of prescription drugs. We give Medicare the ability now to negotiate prices on an open market that has never happened before. The cost of health care under the Obama plan, which was going to end the subsidies that were going to end next month, will now be extended well beyond that into 2025, at the very least. There is a $35 cap on insulin for diabetics, and you were right to point out earlier, unfortunately, that does not cover the private insurers, but for the Americans who are on Medicare, their cost for insulin will be capped at $35.
There is in this bill significant efforts to deal with the environment, the air that we breathe, the water that we [drink], and the way we are using it, disposing of things. And I agree with you again, at the very least, if what we breathe through the air is not a civil rights matter, I don't know what can be, particularly given the increasing amounts of cancer that we see all over our society as a result of carcinogens because of a carbon footprint that is way out of place in terms of where it should be. So that's going to be reduced, I think, by about 40% by the end of this decade, as you point out.
There are a number of things. Thankfully, I was really glad to hear the remarks of the EPA director on the provisions and the things that they are undertaking. But this bill also does a number of other things. It takes corporations who make over $1 billion a year, for the first time, puts on them a mandatory tax rate of 15%. If everyday people have to pay taxes, there is no reason why those corporations should not, which is probably why the other side of the aisle fought it so very, very long.
So it's groundbreaking in many respects. It's coming to the House. We're in session this coming week. We will get that bill going on and finalize it and then send it to the President's desk for signature.
BRITTNEY GRINER
REV. SHARPTON: Congressman, let me go to another subject. You know, I've been very vocal from the beginning about the case of Brittney Griner, and you've become one of Brittney Griner's biggest advocates in Congress throughout her detention. And as of last week, conviction for cannabis possession in Russia earlier this year of Griner now is facing nine years in prison. Now, both Russia and the U.S. have signaled openness to a prisoner swap that would bring Griner home, as well as probably Paul Whelan. Again, we've been back and forth. I tried a clergy visit. You've taken a strong stance. Are you optimistic about a swap that could lead to Brittney's release?
CONGRESSMAN MFUME: Well, I'm cautiously optimistic. I would be remiss if I did not thank you for your public support of this. In the early days when it first broke, a lot of people weren't saying anything because the word was the less said, the better things are. But we realize that that's not true. The more said, the more opportunities there are to get Ms. Griner home.
So I'm cautiously optimistic. Let me just explain why. Putin is a great chess player and he realizes this is an issue here in this country. And so instead of a one for one, he's looking to find others that he can put into that deal in my opinion, that will sweeten the deal and then cause the swap to take place. Well, Viktor Bout is a "Merchant of Death," as he's known, he's a gun runner, has been arrested and locked up for some time. It's clear that Putin wants him back on Russian soil. Ms. Griner, along with Paul Whelan, another American who's been locked up since 2020, are both in, as we know, in detention. And so, the question becomes, is it a one for one, two for one, or two for two swap? And I think Putin would prefer a two for two swap. There’s a lot of talk about a Russian who is in jail in Germany, right now, which has nothing to do with the U.S. It’s about adding it to the situation.
So, what we hear coming out of Putin’s mouth and his foreign minister has to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s primarily for domestic consumption in Russia. We know that there are back channels now that are open and have been open for three and a half weeks where discussions are taking place. My assumption is that it will culminate in the release of Ms. Griner and perhaps even Mr. Whelan. But at this particular point in time, part of the problem I think the President faces is that people, for the most part, don’t want prisoner swaps. And we’ve had a situation where that’s never been the case. But even foreign [relations] secretaries of this country have said over and over again that there comes a time when these things are necessary. And this is one of those times.
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To watch the full interview, click here.