Baltimore Tour with Senators Cardin and Van Hollen to Highlight Job Creation, Climate and Health Benefits from Inflation Reduction Act 

Events to illustrate how Inflation Reduction Act will create jobs, address climate change and promote healthier communities

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U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen will join advocates and other elected officials at three events in Baltimore on Tuesday, Sept. 6^th to discuss the wide range of critically important climate and health benefits the Inflation Reduction Act will bring to Maryland. The new federal law will make unprecedented investments in clean energy, extend important subsidies making health insurance affordable for many, cap drug costs for seniors and provide new support to low-income and communities of color that are most at risk from climate change.

This tour, sponsored by the Maryland Health Care for All! Coalition and Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, will provide excellent opportunities for the media to hear first-hand from Marylanders about the new law’s impact. Senators and other elected officials will make the following stops, all on Sept. 6th:

• 10:30 a.m.: Faith Leaders Meeting at Gospel Tabernacle Baptist Church 3100 Walbrook Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21216

Senator Van Hollen will meet with more than 60 Baltimore-area Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders to discuss the new law’s impact on their communities, including lower costs for prescription drugs, help with insurance premiums, and new benefits for homeowners.

• 12 noon, Civic Works 3501 Brehms Lane, Baltimore MD 21213

Civic Works, a community-based training and education nonprofit and an AmeriCorps program, will discuss how the new investments in training programs for solar and weatherization will create job opportunities in the energy efficiency and clean-energy sectors. These training programs are vital to helping fill the thousands of good jobs being created in the offshore wind, weatherization, solar energy and other growing sectors in Maryland. Senators Cardin and Van Hollen and other elected officials will hear from staff and graduates from Civic Works’ job training program and Civic Works Executive Director Dana Stein.

• 1:30 p.m.: University of Maryland Medical Center, Midtown Campus, 827 Linden Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 (Free garage parking available at 800 Linden Avenue for media.)

University of Maryland Medical Center, Midtown President Alison G. Brown and other hospital representatives will discuss how the new law will benefit patients and their communities in Baltimore. Elected officials, including Senators Cardin and Van Hollen and Maryland House of Delegates Health and Government Operations Committee Chair Joseline Peña-Melnyk, will hear from two patients who will benefit from the law’s cap on out-of-pocket drug costs, including for insulin, for Medicare patients, a major new benefit for millions of Americans. Attendees will also tour the University of Maryland Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology and learn more about the center’s comprehensive, team-based approach to care for this complex condition.

“The Inflation Reduction Act will make it easier for American families to afford health insurance and help seniors with prescription drugs. It will lower electricity costs and emissions, while creating over 1 million good-paying jobs here in America in the growing clean energy sector,” said U.S. Senator Ben Cardin. “The savings for Marylanders found in the IRAare very real. A new analysis estimates that it will save the average household approximately $170-$220 annually from smaller electricity bills and reductions in the costs of goods and services over the next decade. Extending Affordable Care Act-enhanced health insurance premium subsidies through 2025 will save median-income Maryland families about $2,200 annually.”

“We passed the Inflation Reduction Act to make progress on some of the biggest challenges our nation faces: sky-high prescription drug costs, the worsening climate crisis, a tax code that unfairly puts corporations and the wealthy before working Americans, and inflation,” said U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen. “This law will address each of these challenges head-on, while reducing our national debt and creating thousands of good-paying jobs right here in Maryland. It’s a transformative measure that will help build a better future for our nation and our world.”

“As this legislation helps us shift to a clean energy economy, it will ensure that both clean energy services and jobs are accessible to all,” said Dana Stein, executive director of Civic Works. “To meet the expected need, Civic Works will expand our programs focused on building pathways to family-sustaining clean energy careers for Baltimore residents impacted by systemic inequities.”

“As an anchor institution in West Baltimore, we are acutely aware of the tough choices many individuals and families have to make between life’s basic necessities, such as food and housing, and lifesaving medications to maintain good health, such as insulin for diabetes,” said Alison G. Brown, President of the University of Maryland Medical Center, Midtown Campus. “The inability to fill a prescription due to costs can have serious consequences and, in the long run, drive higher overall costs of providing care for the communities we serve.  I welcome the opportunity to discuss why ensuring access to affordable medications is vital to improving health outcomes, particularly for the historically underserved patients we partner with to achieve their best health.”

“Marylanders, like all Americans, will benefit greatly from the prescription drug affordability and health care benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Vincent DeMarco, President of the Maryland Health Care for All! Coalition. “Today we highlight these benefits and thank Senators Ben Cardin and Van Hollen, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and all the Maryland Democratic House Members who voted for this life saving and historic law for their leadership.”

“This new law represents a major step forward in the fight to stem climate change. Among its many benefits, the law will help create new clean-energy jobs and fund training programs to fill them,” said Jamie DeMarco, Federal and Maryland Policy Director at Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund. “These events will help show exactly how the new law will translate into economic opportunities for Marylanders, while also moving the nation away from polluting energy sources.”

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