Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker has attacked the Democrats for including spending on urban forestry in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — despite the fact that the initiative could be crucial forUrban areas that are poor and heavy on the pavements are more likely to be affected by extreme heat.
“They [Democrats] continue to try to fool you like they’re helping you out, but they’re not,” Walker saidAs the first participant in an event held Sunday near Atlanta, Georgia. reported byThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They’re not helping you out, because a lot of the money is going into trees. You know that, don’t you? It’s going into trees. We’ve got enough trees. Don’t we have enough trees around here?”
Forestry advocates say that the forestry and conservation funding could be “tremendous” for forest management and sustainability in the U.S., with the dual benefit of creating and sustaining massive carbon sinks.
After receiving much derisionWalker made the comment. doubled downOn Twitter, outright lying about IRA “Yes, you heard me right,” he said. Democrats “are spending $1.5 billion on ‘urban forestry’ and raising taxes on those making under $200k to pay for it. Yes, I have a problem with that.”
$1.5 billion represents only about 0.3 percent of the bill’s $433 billion in new spending — an exceedingly small portion of the total amount.
The IRA does not directly raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year; in other words, Walker’s claim is false. The bill does impose a minimum tax on corporations, and provides funding for the Internal Revenue Service to enforce taxes against the rich. which Republicans have opposed They also lied about it.
It’s additionally untrue that the bill won’t directly help the public outside of its efforts to mitigate the climate crisis. Although the bill is smaller than what progressives advocated last year, it still includes provisions such as allowing Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices to lower the costs for beneficiaries.
Walker, a climate denier, has been caught lyingMany times throughout his campaign, including claims that the former law enforcement officer and Federal Bureau of Investigation employee. He has also liedInformation about how many children he has, as well as his campaign. The Republican is running against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
“The few policies Walker can articulate, like his support for a nationwide abortion ban and opposition to legislation to reduce drug costs for seniors, are harmful to Georgians,” Georgia Democratic Party spokesperson Dan Gottleib told The Washington Post. “But his inability to demonstrate even the most basic understanding of other key issues shows he isn’t ready to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate.”
Walker has made comments that have raised doubts about his understanding of critical issues such as the climate crisis. Last month, for instance, Walker said that he opposes proposals to address the climate crisis because the U.S. already has “good air” that doesn’t need cleaning. In a baffling remark, Walker stated that, though the U.S. has “good air,” China has “bad air” that the U.S. has to clean.
“Since we don’t control the air, our good air decided to float over to China’s bad air,” Walker saidAt a GOP Event. “So when China gets our good air, their bad air’s got to move. So it moves over into our good air space. And now we’ve got to clean that back up.”
