Group of GOP congressman backing part of Biden climate legislation

Donald Trump has been hoping to repeal Biden’s controversial Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was touted as a way to fight inflation but was really nothing but earmarks for climate change.  

While Trump wants to repeal it, a group of Republicans in the House are now advocating for keeping some aspects of that legislation in play.

The Inflation Reduction Act 

Trump is right in that this legislation did little to nothing to fight inflation, as it was primarily focused on climate change and the renewable energy industry. After the fact, even Biden stated that they misnamed the legislation, which was done solely to get public support behind the bill with soaring inflation rates.  

For instance, the legislation offered significant tax cuts for Americans and business owners who were willing to invest in renewable energy or clean energy products.  

The two types of credits being awarded were an investment tax credit and a production tax credit.  

There were also clean energy production tax credits and clean energy investment tax credits, which are “functionally similar to the ITC/PTC but is not technology-specific. It applies to all generation facilities (and energy storage systems under ITC) that have an anticipated greenhouse gas emissions rate of zero.” 

Credits and deductions 

When the legislation was passed, it offered a laundry list of tax credits and deductions available to help promote purchasing clean energy products.  

For instance, the administration was offering significant tax credits for people looking to purchase a new vehicle as long as it was an electric vehicle. The IRS website outlined the qualifiers to be eligible for the tax credit.  

Another major tax break was for individuals who improved their homes by installing green energy features, such as solar panels and new appliances. For instance, you could get as much as a 30% credit for the cost of the improvement, up to $500, the first year of legislation, and as much as $2,000 in credit for specific items, such as heat pumps and biomass stoves, from 2023 through 2032. 

Again, the laundry list of credits is fairly extensive, but you can read more about this on the IRS website.   

Republicans fighting to save Biden legacy 

There are now 21 Republicans who are pleading with the Trump administration to leave these credits in place if Trump is successful in repealing the IRA.  

The effort is being led by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), who stated, “We have 20-plus members saying, ‘Don’t just think you can repeal these things and have our support,. We need the projects that are currently under development to be brought online so we can continue the President’s ‘America First’ agenda.” 

“These [credits] are helping the president accomplish what he said he wanted to do in his campaign, and that was to make America an energy-dominant country.” 

I have never been an either/or person regarding energy. I firmly believe we need clean energy and fossil fuels to work in conjunction with each other, not against, so I don’t really have a problem with these tax credits. My issue is that Biden was trying to force complete conversion, which is simply not feasible with the raw cost of clean energy today. Not to mention all the fossil fuels used to build, install, and maintain green energy (especially when it comes to wind). To that point, I very much look forward to seeing the stance Trump takes on this.