Cleaver sponsors Stop Gas Price Gouging Tax and Rebate Act

(From Fifth District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver)

Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the March Jobs Report, showing that the United States added another 431,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent. 

Since President Biden took office, the United States has seen 7.9 million new jobs created and regained 93% of jobs lost during the global pandemic, marking the fastest economic recovery in American history. But now is not the time for Congress to rest on its laurels.

While I'm pleased that the American Rescue Plan and the economic policies of the Biden Administration are getting Americans back to work at a historic rate, it's critical that Congress continue to focus on legislation that will address inflation, combat corporate price gouging, and lower costs on hardworking Missouri families. 

As your Representative, those are the issues I have been laser-focused on, and I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the actions the House of Representatives and I have taken recently to help on that front, as well as a historic piece of legislation that was signed into law last week.

House of Representatives Votes to Cap Insulin Costs at $35 per Month

Right now, the American people pay 10 times the price for insulin compared to other high-income countries--and it's due to nothing more than lack of competition and corporate greed. Last week, I was proud to join my colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin at no more than $35 per month in Medicare Part D and commercial health insurance.

With 1 in 4 Americans who rely on insulin admitting to having cut back or skipped doses due to cost, the Affordable Insulin Now Act ensures vital and affordable access to life-saving medication for more than 37 million Americans who have diabetes. To lower costs on Americans who rely on insulin, the bill would:

-Require Medicare Part D plans and commercial health insurance plans to cover insulin, ensuring that plans cover at least one of each type and dosage form of insulin;

-Cap out-of-pocket costs at no more than $35 per month, requiring private insurance to cap cost-sharing at the lesser of $35 or 25 percent of a plan's negotiated price, and requiring all Medicare prescription drug plans to cap cost-sharing at no more than $35; and

-Be completely paid for without adding to the deficit by delaying the implementation of the Rebate Rule that was published by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services on November 30, 2020.

While this bill still needs to be passed in the Senate, I'm hopeful that we can find 10 Senate Republicans to support this commonsense proposal to lower medical costs for Americans with diabetes. 

As this bill heads to the Senate, I will continue working to find ways in which we can lower prescription drug costs for Missourians of all backgrounds, but you can find more information on my support for the Affordable Insulin Now Act here.

Rep. Cleaver Cosponsors Legislation to Combat Price Gouging from Big Oil, Lower Gas Prices, and Provide Rebates to American Consumers

As the Biden Administration vaccinated hundreds of millions of Americans and pandemic restrictions were loosened, the global consumption of oil and gas increased substantially in 2021. 

As a result of increased global demand, 24 of the top oil and gas companies made more than $127 billion in profits last year. Rather than reinvesting those profits to expand production and reduce prices on consumers, Big Oil instead awarded shareholders, with 14 oil companies alone giving more than $35 billion in dividend increases and stock buybacks. 

In the first quarter of 2022, nearly $80 billion in shareholder returns have already been announced by Big Oil, even as gas prices remain extraordinarily high around the world.

In an effort to combat the potential for price gouging and to lower prices at the pump, I announced last week that I have cosponsored H.R. 7099, the Stop Gas Price Gouging Tax and Rebate Act. This bill would help to curb profiteering from major oil and gas companies by creating a windfall profit tax on excessive corporate profits of Big Oil. 

Additionally, the revenue created from the windfall profit tax would then be returned to American consumers in the form of a tax rebate, providing desperately needed relief to Missouri families. 

By incentivizing major oil and gas companies to reinvest their exorbitant profits toward expanding production, increasing supply, or simply keeping costs lower for American consumers as we weather the lack of supply caused by Putin's despicable invasion of Ukraine, I believe this legislation is one way Congress can help to address high gas prices.

I want you to know that President Biden--who announced last week that he would release 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve--and I are working overtime to lower gas prices in the short-term, while also working to provide long-term investments that would accelerate our transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles.

While I continue to push for a vote on this legislation in the House of Representatives, you can find more information on the Stop Gas Price Gouging Tax and Rebate Act here.

President Biden Signs the Emmett Till Antilynching Act Into Law

Last week, after more than 200 attempts by Congress since 1900, President Biden finally signed legislation that would designate the horrific act of lynching as a federal hate crime in the United States. 

Having grown up in the throes of Jim Crow in Texas, I know firsthand how this evil practice was used to intimidate Black communities and enforce the hierarchy that white supremacists had cultivated since the end of Reconstruction in the late 19th century. 

And while no legislation can reverse the trauma or return the more than 6,500 African Americans who were killed by hate-fueled public lynchings, the enactment of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act is a powerful acknowledgement of the pain Black Americans were forced to endure during the Jim Crow era--and a critical step toward healing the wounds of the past so that we can build a better future for all.

I was honored to stand with President Biden, Vice President Harris, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus as the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was signed into law, and I will continue to work with the Biden Administration and Members of Congress who are focused on advancing racial justice and building a better America for each and every community across our great nation.

You can find my official statement of the enactment of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act here.

The Week Ahead

The House of Representatives returns to Washington this week, and we are prepared to vote on legislation that will provide additional relief to American small businesses that have been harmed by the global pandemic--which is something I have advocated for months now. As this piece of legislation makes its way to the House floor, as well as other bills to combat inflation and lower costs on hardworking families, I will be sure to keep you apprised of my work in Congress.