It is a traditional Democratic game to fight against the wishes of their electorates, and this week no exception.
A coterie of GOP senators, made up of Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Utah’s John Curtis, Kansas’s Jerry Moran, and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, slowly sent a notice to Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday regarding continuing discussions over the group’s peace deal when they evidently thought nobody was looking.
Their issue? That the final version of the legislation that includes the repeal of President Biden’s obscenely-named Inflation Reduction Act ( IRA ), a 2022 law filled with Democrat-backed goodies and” Green New Deal-style” policy priorities, also contain provisions completely repealing the legislation’s priorities ( tax cuts and border security ).
These four Republican senators particularly requested that a final peace deal forego “full-scale” tax credits for the electricity industry, which includes those for so-called “renewable power sources.”
The lawmakers wrote that “our energy strategy has long been characterized by an all-of-the-above view, including support for standard and renewable energy sources, and the United States produces some of the finest and most effective energy in the world.” According to the existing energy tax model, several American companies have made significant investments in local power production and facilities. A complete reform of the law, or the dismissal of particular unique credits, would result in uncertainty, putting strain on the ability to fund long-term project planning, job creation in the power sector and across our broader economy.
The four lawmakers tossed around unconvincing vows to “identify waste, fraud, abuse, and important reforms” in a typical Democratic manner while totally disregarding the shortcomings of “green” power and the prohibitive cost of the credits they’re defending.
According to a March 20 report from the Tax Foundation,” In the most recent Treasury expenditures report, IRA green credits are projected to cost$ 1.16 trillion between 2025 and 2034, owing to$ 83 billion in lost revenue and$ 30 billion in outlays,” According to the report, those projections “include some expenses from natural credit policies that date before the IRA.”
However, a liberal Cato Institute study from March 11 predicted yet higher long-term fees for the IRA’s energy-related income credits. According to the organization’s report, the organization projects that” the energy subsidies in the]IRA] will cost between$ 936 billion and$ 1. 97 trillion over the next ten years, and between$ 2.04 trillion and$ 4.67 trillion by 2050.”
The IRA’s clean energy tax certificates ‘ complete overturn, according to The Tax Foundation, “would boost$ 851 billion over the budget window of 2025 to 2034.”
Murkowski, Curtis, Moran, and Tillis aren’t the only ones who are trying to save some of the Democrats ‘ disastrous IRA. More than 20 House Republicans wrote to House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith last month, in which they also voiced their opposition to reducing Biden-era power tax credits, such as those for so-called” cleaner and more useful” energy industries.
( Red state GOP officials in ostensible “red states” like Wyoming and Oklahoma also have proven to support left-wing green energy projects. )
It would be completely untrue to compare this GOP-backed effort to the IRA’s provisions to being surprising.
Republicans have been asking voters for years to send them to Washington to repeal vicious Democrat policies, only to have them do so once given the authority to do so. ( Remember their years-long commitment to “repeal and replace” Obamacare? a pleasant atmosphere.
The unfortunate reality is that many GOPers who identify as” Republicans” aren’t conservative at all. They are established political opportunists who learned to rehash Fox News talking points and say whatever it takes to win elected office.
They should expect more of the same from this all-too-often pathetic excuse for a” conservative” party until voters ( and Trump ) send these kinds of GOP phonies packing at the ballot box.
The Federalist staff writer Shawn Fleetwood graduated from the University of Mary Washington. He previously worked for Convention of States Action as a state content writer, and his articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Conservative Review, RealClearPolitics, and RealClear Health. Follow him on Twitter at @ShawnFleetwood
