by Nick Pope
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson indicated Tuesday that he will try to save some of the green energy subsidies unleashed by President Joe Biden’s signature climate bill if he gets the chance to do so.
Elected Republicans are divided on whether to pursue a full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and particularly its green energy subsidies, if the party is able to secure enough leverage in the 2024 elections. Johnson told CNBC on Tuesday that he would prefer to approach any potential repeal efforts “with a scalpel and not a sledgehammer.”
“You’ve got to use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer, because there’s a few provisions in there that have helped overall,” Johnson told CNBC. He added that much of what is in the bill has been “terribly harmful to the economy,” but the speaker did not specify to the outlet which IRA provisions he would look to protect and which he would work to repeal if given the chance.
JANET YELLEN: "The Inflation Reduction Act is, at its core, about turning the climate crisis into an economic opportunity."
Fantastic, what does the Inflation Reduction Act do to reduce inflation? pic.twitter.com/btsHoG3qd0
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 4, 2023
Prior to his interview with CNBC, Johnson delivered a Tuesday policy speech at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) in Washington, D.C., in which he characterized the IRA as an “inflationary bill” and pledged to cut at least some spending related to the bill.
“We will cut the wasteful Green New Deal spending in the Democrat’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act that is costing twice as much as it was advertised and is sending our taxpayer dollars to China,” Johnson said during his AFPI speech.
Johnson’s comments to CNBC echo the thrust of an August letter sent to him by 18 Republicans urging the speaker to preserve some subsidies in the IRA — which became law without a single Republican vote — if the GOP has the chance to undertake a repeal effort. There are other members of the Republican caucus who did not sign the letter but are thinking along the same lines, according to E&E News.
Additionally, the Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute — two powerful interest groups — are also gearing up to protect some IRA subsidies if need be. The IRA could play a major role in looming tax negotiations poised to take place in 2025, when key provisions of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire, according to CNBC.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the IRA on the campaign trail, and he has pledged to claw back unspent funds and essentially kill IRA-backed offshore wind projects, for example. Initial projections anticipated that the IRA’s energy tax credits would cost nearly $400 billion, but the ultimate costs could end up being far greater, as Goldman Sachs forecasted in April 2023 that the credits could eventually cost $1.2 trillion over ten years.
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Nick Pope is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Speaker Mike Johnson” by Speaker Mike Johnson.
