More than two dozen House Republicans who recently welcomed multi-million-dollar clean energy manufacturing investments in their districts voted Wednesday to repeal the tax incentives that stimulated those very same projects.
The clean energy tax incentives are among a slew of measures from the Inflation Reduction Act the Republican lawmakers voted to repeal as part of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s bill to cut government spending and raise the debt ceiling into next year.
The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate, but the vote represents a potential political vulnerability that the White House and Democratic groups intend to leverage against those lawmakers. Democrats plan to accuse them of jeopardizing jobs in their districts – and use the vote to draw a contrast between President Joe Biden and House Republicans. Already, a climate advocacy group is launching its first ads targeting a half dozen of the Republicans whose districts have benefited from the climate provisions.
It’s a potential political vulnerability that the White House and Democratic groups intend to leverage against those lawmakers – accusing them of jeopardizing jobs in their districts – and use to draw a contrast between President Joe Biden and House Republicans. Already, a climate advocacy group is launching its first ads targeting a half dozen of the Republicans whose districts have benefited from the climate provisions.
The votes highlight a fundamental irony about Republican efforts to repeal the landmark climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act: a majority of the more than $150 billion in clean energy manufacturing investments announced since the IRA became law are being poured into GOP districts, according to data compiled by the American Clean Power Association and verified by CNN.
Of the announced investments with a confirmed location, more than 80% of those…
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