
Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris is coming to Buffalo for the second time while in office to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act.
Why Buffalo again?
The announcement was made Monday and confirmed by WBEN via the office of Congressman Brian Higgins. Congressman Brian Higgins spoke with media Monday afternoon to elaborate more on what the Inflation Reduction Act is and why the Biden administration chose Buffalo to highlight it.

"All of the investments in clean energy manufacturing, cleaning up neighborhoods that have been polluted because of decades of industrial waste and all the other good things that are in the bill, some of them don't appear to be related, but they are in that they're investments in Americans. This is the largest investment in the history of the country, when you combine the infrastructure law, $1.2 trillion. When you look at the CHIPS Act, when you look at the Inflation Reduction Act, it raises about $700 billion and spends about 400 billion on very important investments, investments that will create a workforce in Buffalo in Western New York that is highly competitive with the CHIPS Act," said Congressman Brian Higgins.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which took effect in August 16th, is an attempt to curb inflation by reducing the deficit, lowering the costs of prescription drugs such as insulin and allowing Medicare negotiations of drug prices as well as promoting clean energy. The law will raise $737 billion and authorize $369 billion in spending on energy and climate change, deficit reduction, Affordable Care Act subsidies, prescription drug reform to lower prices and tax reform.
Why is the Vice President talking about that in Buffalo?
"Buffalo is a place that was a center of manufacturing for 100 years, steel manufacturing, chemical manufacturing and it's going to it's well-positioned because of our infrastructure to become a leader. The new technologies, the clean energy technologies, this is the best place for the Vice President to be to showcase with the potential of these federal funds is as it relates to job creation in Western New York," Congressman Higgins says.
The congressman notes that this Inflation Reduction Act also puts pressures on large corporations to pay income tax, "The largest corporations, Amazon and many of those that we know, don't pay any corporate income taxes because they can hire lawyers and accountants that get them out from under those obligations. That's not fair, these corporations are reporting record profits every year, now there's a minimum 15% that they have to pay. So that is a net gain, that otherwise would not be collected. It's very important and that's why it's called the Inflation Reduction Act, because it spends considerably less than it actually raises."
This will be the second appearance from the Vice President, as she was here in May, attending the funeral of Ruth Whitfield one of the victims who was killed in the horrific, racially-motivated Tops supermarket shooting in Buffalo, claiming the lives of ten black people.
The historical significance of two visits in one year from a vice VP of the United States in Buffalo is practically unheard of in recent decades according to politicsandstuff.com's Ken Kruly, "It's very rare. Thinking back, Trump did not come here when he was president. He came as a candidate. Obama came after his presidency and I believe, once or twice during his presidency. I don't think that we saw Joe Biden as vice president in Buffalo. Going back into the Bush and Cheney administration, George Bush was not here when he was president and Dick Cheney may have come in from for a fundraiser, but the events what I just went through spans more than 20 years and it's a handful of appearances. So it's a very rare occurrence in Buffalo."
Buffalo is resurging in economic prosperity, many infrastructure improvements are in the works and a historical amount of money is being spent here, as well as an increase in population.
Congressman Brian Higgins identifies this, "Prior to the pandemic. Buffalo was the talk of the nation. The Economist magazine, The New York Times, Forbes and People, all did feature stories on Buffalo extolling the virtues of a changing diversified economy because historically, most of our economy was steeped in steelmaking and dirty industrial work along the river and chemical manufacturing. Today, it's technology and I think that we are well positioned post-pandemic, to take advantage of these bills, which are intended obviously to boost the economy and diversify the economy of the nation."
The congressman believes that this money will disproportionately impact the City of Buffalo and will be used as a showcase to create more jobs in manufacturing as well as focusing on a greener image for a city.
"For the first time in 50 years, we're making a different use of our water. It's contributing to our quality of life by having access to the water and the recreational opportunities that presents. It was once used as an industrial working waterfront. In the last 10 years, we've removed 62,000 semi-truckloads of toxic chemicals from the Buffalo River. The Buffalo River and the Niagara River will be delisted from its previous ecological destruction. I think it's all coming together. It's the water's edge, it's downtown Buffalo, it's the use of old industrial infrastructure, car manufacturing, steel manufacturing, for manufacturing in a new age, that is that is based on technology."
See the player below for the full remarks of Congressman Brian Higgins: