13 House Republicans Call for Senate to Revise Clean Energy Tax Credits
Thirteen House Republicans, led by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), have written to Senate leaders urging substantial revisions to the clean energy tax credit provisions in the House-passed megabill. The lawmakers have raised concerns that the provisions, which would phase out incentives from the Democrats’ 2022 climate law and impose strict supply chain requirements, could jeopardize billions of dollars in investments and thousands of jobs, a point previously raised by companies and trade groups.
The letter, sent on Friday, was signed by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, and Andrew Garbarino of New York, among several others. It comes as Senate negotiators work on their version of the GOP’s tax cut, energy, and border spending budget package. The lawmakers emphasized that the Senate now has a critical opportunity to restore common sense and deliver a truly pro-energy growth final bill that protects taxpayers while also unleashing the potential of U.S. energy producers, manufacturers, and workers.
Most lawmakers who signed the letter supported the House megabill despite the tax credit dispute. Garbarino, who initially slept through the early morning vote, said he would have supported the bill if given the chance. The letter also calls for changing a provision that would cut off tax breaks for projects that haven’t started construction within 60 days of the megabill’s enactment. The authors also want to change “highly restrictive and onerous” requirements for foreign entities of concern and revive the practice known as “transferability,” which allows project sponsors to transfer credits to a third party.
Even though the House-passed bill rolled back incentives for renewable energy and hydrogen, it spared credits for nuclear and biofuels. The House Republicans wrote that since January, over $14 billion in energy projects have been canceled or delayed, with $4.5 billion scrapped in April alone. Without a clear signal from Congress encouraging continued investments and offering business certainty as these provisions are phased out, project cancellations will continue to snowball. The House GOP effort will complement the work already underway by Senate Republicans like Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis to ease restrictions on the tax credits contained in the House bill.