WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed in a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08), House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19), and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) that Democrats’ Inflation Expansion Act drove a massive increase in Medicare Part D spending, raising costs for seniors and taxpayers.

The confirmation comes in response to a May 2026 letter from Chairmen Smith, Arrington, and Guthrie demanding CBO account for the dramatic upward revision in its Medicare Part D spending projections.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) said:

“Washington Democrats’ Inflation Expansion Act was yet another costly promise that failed to deliver lower prices for seniors. Democrats promised lower prescription drug prices, but the Congressional Budget Office is once again confirming that their policies instead increased costs for America’s seniors and taxpayers by an additional $700 billion while offering 50% fewer drug plans for them to choose from. Plain and simple, Democrats have made it harder for seniors to afford prescription drugs.

“Because of these misguided policies, Americans are paying more for health care than ever before while facing fewer choices and less access to care in return. Meanwhile, powerful health care empires continue to benefit from government-created distortions, loopholes, and misaligned incentives that reward higher spending instead of better outcomes. The Ways and Means Committee will continue fighting to hold these empires accountable, expand access to care, and lower costs – not help powerful interests that have benefited from the status quo.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) said:

“The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) new analysis confirms what Republicans sounded the alarm on for years: The drug pricing scheme in the Inflation Reduction Act fails to deliver the savings Democrats promised. CBO originally estimated these policies would save taxpayers $129 billion. Instead, CBO now confirms the IRA’s misguided policies were the major driver behind higher projected Part D expenditures, contributing to a $700 billion deficit increase.

“We have once again confirmed that Democrats, with CBO’s analysis in hand, sold the American people a false bill of goods in the Inflation Reduction Act. Combined with the Joint Committee on Taxation’s $600 billion miscalculation of the cost of the Green New Deal tax credits, we now know the IRA cost Americans $1.3 trillion more in new deficit spending. Today, taxpayers are left holding the bag due to Democrats’ failed experiment in price fixing and their green new deal climate agenda.”

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) said:

“Earlier this year, CBO’s baseline update projected significantly higher costs for Medicare Part D, including an estimated $600 billion in additional Medicare prescription drug spending over the next decade.

“In response to the May letter I sent, alongside Chairmen Arrington and Smith, CBO highlighted how the problematic design of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has not led to the savings CBO originally projected but has instead led to increased costs for taxpayers and instability in the Part D marketplace. The Part D program is critical to meeting seniors’ needs and requires durable regulatory policies to ensure the long-term affordability and availability of prescription drug plans for these beneficiaries.”

Background:

• When Democrats passed the Inflation Expansion Act, they significantly redesigned the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit for seniors, which CBO originally estimated would reduce the deficit by $129 billion.
• CBO estimated the redesign would reduce spending on drugs to $2,300 per member per month from $3,200. Instead, the redesign has raised spending to $3,500 per member per month, costing seniors more money each month out of their pockets.
• CBO’s February 2026 baseline revealed a staggering $700 billion increase in projected Medicare Part D spending, part of a broader $1 trillion increase in projected Medicare costs compared to just one year earlier.
• CBO has previously affirmed that inflation rebates in the IRA increased launch prices as well.
• In May 2026, Chairmen Smith, Arrington, and Guthrie wrote to CBO to seek clarity on CBO’s revision of its scoring of the Inflation Expansion Act’s drug pricing provisions, future Part D expenditure projections, and to demand answers on how CBO could so drastically miscount the impact of these major Democrat policies on taxpayers and seniors.