House GOP gets 6 Dems to vote to reverse Biden climate rules

When Joe Biden was elected, he ran on two major issues… a green legacy and student loan forgiveness.

Biden found ways to get them both through, but now Biden’s climate change legacy is set to take a hit.

The Inflation Reduction Act

One of the more expensive pieces of legislation passed when Biden was in office was the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

While Biden touted inflation reduction, this bill really had very little to do with inflation and everything to do with earmarking money for pet climate change projects and tax breaks for green energy purchases for businesses and individuals.

The legislation was rammed through Congress via reconciliation.

Of the nearly $900 billion approved in spending, nearly $800 billion of that was for energy and climate change, as well as some Affordable Care Act subsidies.

GOP Wants to Keep Biden’s Clean Energy Tax Credits

Earlier this month, while the GOP was working on legislation to cut Biden’s climate change rules, a small group of Republicans reached out to try to keep certain aspects of the legislation in place.

A total of 21 House Republicans wrote a letter to Representative Jason Smith of Missouri, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to preserve tax credits for purchasing green energy products.

The group stated, “To meet President Trump’s campaign promises of bringing back manufacturing and taking energy production at home seriously, we need to look at an all-the-above approach to these things. These credits have been helping do that.”

This was a warning sign to me that the GOP cuts could be at risk. As it turned out, I was dead wrong.

Democrats Cross the Aisle

On Thursday, the GOP floored legislation to end Biden’s climate rules, and as it turns out, a handful of Democrats walked across the aisle to support the legislation.

Rep. Bice (R-OK) stated, "I have fought every step of the way to prevent egregious rules from taking effect. These regulations will impose significant financial burdens on small businesses, which will have to absorb major upgrade costs to meet these new, aggressive standards.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) added, "House Republicans will not allow the Biden administration’s Green New Scam to burden American businesses and raise consumer prices. We will continue to roll back regulations that rob Americans of choice in the name of a radical climate agenda.”

This a huge rebuke against the far-left wing of the Democrat Party. And while the number is not large in terms of defectors, with the slim majority the GOP has in the House, every Democrat vote is like gold right now. Of course, now this has to get through the Senate or fall victim to the filibuster.