Press Releases

WORCESTER—Congressman James P. McGovern (MA-02) today released a new report with detailed research from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee showing how the American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and student loan relief will lower costs for residents in MA-02, support businesses, and promote economic growth.

“I know far too many people in our community are struggling to make ends meet. That’s why I have been hard at work to lower costs from the gas pump to the pharmacy counter,” Chairman McGovern said. “With the historic Inflation Reduction Act, I have taken on the special interests to help working people breathe easier. This legislation lowers drug prices, cuts health insurance premiums, and reduces energy costs. And I am continuing to fight to deliver a higher tax credit that gives relief to working families with children.”

The Full report can be viewed here. Key Findings Include:

• 1,300 manufacturing jobs have been created in MA-02 since President Biden came into office and 9,800 have been created statewide. The strong economic recovery, thanks to the American Rescue Plan and other legislation, has helped manufacturing recover more than all the jobs lost nationwide during the pandemic.
• In total, 6,500 applications to start a new business were filed in MA-02 in 2021, up from an average of 4,500 per year pre-pandemic. There were 75,400 business applications filed in Massachusetts up from an average of 54,500 per year before the pandemic.
• McGovern’s support for the Inflation Reduction Act is helping 26,000 people in MA-02 access affordable health care coverage. Without this law, these individuals would have seen their health insurance premiums rise or lost coverage altogether at the end of the year. This is especially important to communities of color, who are more likely to be uninsured than white Americans.
• Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, many of the 121,000 seniors in MA-02 with Medicare prescription drug coverage, and the 1,089,000 seniors across Massachusetts with these plans, will soon pay less for their medications.

Among the many cost-reducing measures that Chairman McGovern helped champion are the Inflation Reduction Act, which lowers health care and energy costs for working families; the CHIPS and Science Act, which fixes our supply chains and makes more critical goods in America; the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act, which cracks down on Big Oil companies that are making record profits; the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, which will lower farmers’ costs in the field and lower meat and poultry costs by increasing meatpacking competition; and the Child Tax Credit, where Democrats are still fighting to deliver a higher tax credit for working families with children. 

While Democrats in Congress remain laser-focused on lowering costs and creating good jobs, Republicans continue to side with big corporations and billionaires over workers and families. In fact, Republicans support ending Social Security and Medicare in five years and have proposed raising taxes on middle class families, which would make it even harder for Massachusetts households to make ends meet.