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Eighteen Republican members of the US House of Representatives have urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to preserve the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) if his party takes control of the political reins in January.
Eighteen members of the House Republican Conference have written to House Speaker Mike Johnson stressing the need to “prioritize business and market certainty” amid calls to repeal or amend the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) .
Signed into law by President Joseph Biden on August 16, 2022, the IRA passed both the Senate and House of Representatives the previous week without any Republican support.
Although no Republicans voted for the law, investments resulting from it have flowed predominantly to Republican congressional districts, based on their historical voting patterns.
The letter was delivered on August 6, 2024, just one day before the two-year anniversary of the Senates passage of the IRA, which ended with Vice President Kamala Harris tie-breaking vote.
The letter criticizes the bill as flawed, arguing that it will distort energy markets. However, it also states that “American energy dominance enhances national security and creates American jobs,” indirectly suggesting that the IRA supports “American energy dominance.” The representatives report that many companies have taken advantage of energy tax credits to fund significant investments in new American energy infrastructure. They further express concern from both industry leaders and constituents, who fear that the current energy tax regime could “once again be turned upside down by Republican repeal efforts.”
Prematurely repealing energy tax credits, particularly those used to justify investments already underway, would undermine private investment and halt development already underway. A complete repeal would create a worst-case scenario, where we would have spent billions of taxpayer dollars and received almost nothing in return.
The Republican Representatives are:
Andrew R. Garbarino – 2nd District of New York
David G. Valadao – 22nd District of California
Lori Chavez-DeRemer – 5th District of Oregon
Marcus J. Molinaro – 19th District of New York
Erin Houchin – 9th District of Indiana
Anthony DEsposito – 4th District of New York
Michael V. Lawler – 17th District of New York
Jen A. Kiggans – 2nd District of Virginia
Nick LaLota – 1st District of New York
Young Kim – 40th District of California
John R. Curtis – 3rd District of Utah
Don Bacon – 2nd District of Nebraska
Thomas H. Kean, Jr. – 7th District of New Jersey
David P. Joyce – 14th District of Ohio
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD – 1st District of Iowa
Juan Ciscomani – 6th District of Arizona
Earl L. “Buddy” Carter – 1st District of Georgia
Mark E. Amodei – 2nd District of Nevada
The letter was spearheaded by Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino of New York, who in August 2022 expressed opposition to the IRA, calling it misleading and potentially damaging to the economy:
I voted AGAINST the misleadingly named Reduce Inflation Act, just as I voted against the reckless Build Back Better plan. Two hundred and thirty economists agree that the so-called Reduce Inflation Act will contribute to skyrocketing inflation and will weigh down the American economy. In addition to completely failing to reduce inflation, this bill fails to address the cap on the SALT deduction, while raising taxes that will hurt the middle class.
The debate over the IRA’s name and its effectiveness is controversial. Political pundits suggest that Senator Joe Manchin’s reason for the name was a politically acceptable opposition to the criticized “Green New Deal,” rather than an effective anti-inflationary measure. While it is clear that the peak of recent national inflation coincided with the signing of the IRA, and that inflation has fallen precipitously since then, economic analyses have not shown a causal impact on inflation. |
