Every so often, Americans rely on the Senate to save us from the more ill-considered urges of the House of Representatives. That time has come again. House Republicans have sent an abysmal reconciliation bill to the Senate that would wreak particular havoc on the country’s energy policy and undermine America’s industrial strength. But the Senate can fix it.
The bill would gut the clean-energy tax credits established in the Inflation Reduction Act to fund tax cuts that would largely benefit high-earning households. The energy tax credits, which were passed under President Joe Biden in 2022, were meant to increase the country’s electricity supply, reinvigorate its battery and electric vehicle supply chains and cut its carbon pollution. They have helped drive a clean-energy manufacturing boom across the country.
I think Republicans are making a mistake by trying to repeal much of the Inflation Reduction Act, though I understand why they’ve been frustrated with Democrats’ sometimes contradictory energy policy. Too often, state and local progressives have called for climate action, but then fought off, shut down or lamented the energy sources — especially hydroelectricity and nuclear power — that until recently generated the bulk of America’s clean electricity.
But Republicans are now the ones pursuing a nonsensical energy strategy. The Inflation Reduction Act improved on decades of failed policy by going technology-neutral — its tax credits support any new power plant that doesn’t generate greenhouse gas emissions. That means technologies that Republicans like, including nuclear fission, geothermal power and even nuclear fusion, could benefit.
By unwinding these tax credits in such a ramshackle and disorganized way, Republicans would undermine many of their own goals. Senate Republicans can still salvage a sensible energy policy from the House’s mad dash.
First, they should preserve tax credits that support innovation and recognize the fact that the United States is currently seeding the next generation of world-leading energy technologies.
