Air Date: Week of March 21, 2025

Twenty-one House Republicans signed a letter to Jason Smith, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, voicing their support for clean energy tax credits established under the Inflation Reduction Act. (Photo: Energy.gov, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

As President Trump and the Republican-led Congress aim to shrink the federal government and renew major tax cuts, hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy tax credits could be on the chopping board. Twenty-one House Republicans whose districts are benefiting from the tax credits are petitioning GOP leadership to keep them intact. Inside Climate News Reporter Dylan Baddour joins Host Paloma Beltran to discuss.

Transcript

DOERING: From PRX and the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, this is Living on Earth. I’m Jenni Doering.

BELTRAN: And I’m Paloma Beltran.

As President Trump and the Republican-led Congress aim to shrink the federal government and renew major tax cuts, Biden-era clean energy tax credits could be on the chopping board. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act made historic investments in clean energy, including hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits valid for a decade. Depending on how many businesses and households take advantage of the tax credits, some estimates put the total clean energy tax credit subsidies at $370 billion, while others put the figure at more than $1 trillion. Either way it’s a huge amount, with even more private investment on the line. And money talks in Washington. So, in a letter to the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee dated March 9th, twenty-one House Republicans publicly defended the Biden-era tax credits. Dylan Baddour is a Texas-based reporter with our media partner, Inside Climate News and he’s here to explain. Welcome to Living on Earth, Dylan!

BADDOUR: Thanks, Paloma.

BELTRAN: So 21 House Republicans recently wrote a letter asking federal budget planners to protect Biden-era clean energy tax credits. Why are they taking this stance?

BADDOUR: Well, they're taking this stance essentially to protect investments that they say have already been made in their districts and in their states as a result of these tax credits that were issued, made available in the Inflation Reduction Act about three years ago. So in that time, a lot of money has flowed in, counting on these tax credits, and the Republicans say that it would jeopardize investment and cause further uncertainty if they were to be revoked now.

BELTRAN: And who are some of these 21 Republicans who voiced their support for the clean energy tax credits?

BADDOUR: Well, the vast majority of these are Republicans from typically democratic states. I wouldn't say the vast majority, but a lot of them. You know, we had several Republicans from California, several from New York. There were some from Colorado, as well as swing states like Pennsylvania. Perhaps the most Republican state appearing on here is Georgia. Representative Earl Carter signed his name on that list. But for the most part, you know, big conspicuous absences are industrial states like Texas. None of our representatives are on this list.

BELTRAN: And there are a lot of different kinds of clean energy tax credits that were established under the Biden administration. Which credits do these Republicans seem most keen on carrying forward through the Trump administration?

BADDOUR: Well, In general, any lawmakers are most keen on carrying forward the tax credits that affect their particular states and districts. In this case, we see support for almost all of them, except for the EV tax credits. We spoke with one, Representative Don Bacon from Nebraska, a big corn state, who in particular wanted to protect the tax credits available for ethanol fuels, which all across the board, would be seen as one of the less new groundbreaking programs there in the IRA, however, extremely relevant for Nebraska, where they produce a lot of corn that becomes ethanol. There were at least three lawmakers from California, which is big on solar and wind, who have also benefited from that. There is money for hydrogen project developments, which still remains a bit off in the future. There was money for carbon capture and sequestration projects, which they've also been doing in California. So it's a lot of different tentacles here, reaching out to a lot of different energy fields.

BELTRAN: And you know, you said that no Texas representatives have signed on, despite the fact that wind energy is huge in Texas. Why do you think that is?

BADDOUR: Yeah, that's a good question. I'd say a lot of it has to do with just not breaking ranks politically with the establishment here in Texas. You know, it's not just wind energy. I'd say every one of these fields has a big presence here in Texas, including solar, including carbon capture projects, including hydrogen hubs. They're wanting to build them up and down the coast. So Texas has a lot to gain from these programs, a lot of energy development that's been sparked by these programs. And I would imagine that representatives here are aware of that. But, you know, you just kind of got to follow step with the big forces in Washington and in Texas.

BELTRAN: You know, it's kind of become politically risky for Republicans to support electric vehicles. So to what extent are there any Republican representatives who support EVs?

BADDOUR: I have not heard any in particular speak out about EVs. However, the role of Elon Musk in the government has certainly changed the cultural position of electric vehicles here in the United States. I have not heard him speak out explicitly on this tax credit policy. However, the cultural shifts in attitudes that he is ushering in towards electric vehicles has been pretty stark, and I think it's still too early to say exactly how that's playing out, but electric vehicles have been for a long time associated with Democrats, the green agenda, the climate people. And here comes Elon Musk, electric vehicle, you know, magnate of the United States, who's not really associated with any of those things, and in fact, has become one of the biggest, boldest supporters of President Trump, to the extent that President Trump bought a Tesla electric vehicle at the White House in a very big press event, and he gave a little commercial for Teslas there, I'm here in Texas, oil and gas, capital of the country, of the world, in some ways, Elon Musk also based here in Texas. Since Elon Musk has set up shop in Texas over these past 10 years, definitely, our state leadership has lightened its tone on electric vehicles from sort of sharp rhetoric that they, they used to use, because now this guy's the richest man in the world. He's a Republican muscle man. He is an electric vehicle guy. So where does that leave electric vehicles in the culture wars? Too soon to say, certainly we don't hear any big, outspoken Republican supporters at this time.

BELTRAN: And what about industry, Dylan? You know, how is industry responding to the possibility of these tax credits being taken away?

BADDOUR: Well, I recall something that I heard a week or two ago in Houston. It was CERAWeek, the year's biggest oil and gas conference, and there was a phrase being kicked around, kind of on Twitter and in quiet places, that the Trump administration is great for morale and bad for business, because, despite of all the talk and all the hype about the energy emergency and establishing American energy dominance, revoking these tax credits have a big impact, not just on the projects that have depended on them, but on other businesses who are thinking of investing and thinking of starting projects because this degree of uncertainty, setting this example, that tax credits that were set three years ago for a 10 year duration can now be revoked, well, that kind of breaks trust, I think, with other companies in the private sector with these kind of incentive programs from the US government, and it has already created a degree of uncertainty that might send investors and developers looking to build in other places.

BELTRAN: So 21 House Republicans are trying to keep the clean energy tax credits alive. To what extent do you think this indicates a growing bipartisan support for clean energy?

BADDOUR: There's definitely a growing bipartisan support for clean energy, not because it's clean, but because it's energy, really. And I think we've got to a point where any energy projects that generate money are going to be seen favorably almost anywhere. And that's really what they're trying to protect here, is not the clean nature of things, but the energy investments that have already been made. And if anything, the attitude right now is that we just need more energy, more energy of every kind. It's almost like it doesn't matter what, just build us some energy so we can run these data centers and all this other stuff that we're trying to build. Given the future load growth projected, we don't really have the luxury to be taking energy projects offline or killing them at this time.

BELTRAN: So Dylan, before you go, how much political leverage do you think these 21 House Republicans have? You know, to what extent does this tilt the scales in a closely divided Congress?

BADDOUR: Well, they themselves won't have a lot of personal leverage and power, but I think that the arguments that they're bringing forward are arguments that a lot of other lawmakers share in their feelings and in their thoughts, but ones that they might not be at political liberty to bring forward because of the state of the establishment in Washington or in their states. So I do think that these arguments will carry a lot more weight than just, you know, the 21 representative names that are signed on to the letter, but what President Trump is going to need to pass through his tax reforms, that would include the removal of these credits is just a simple majority in the Senate. So given that balance, it's a tight question, and it's complicated, because not all Republicans support all of the tax credits, not all Democrats support all of the tax credits. There's a lot of lines that get crossed in there. So it's definitely not clear at all how this is going to come out. It could be fairly simple for the Republicans to get a simple majority on a lot of these, but certainly not all of them.

BELTRAN: Dylan Baddour is a Texas-based reporter with her media partner, Inside Climate News. Dylan, thank you so much for joining us.

BADDOUR: Thanks for having me, Paloma.

 

Links

Inside Climate News | “Some Republicans Defend Clean Energy Tax Credits from Trump Administration Cuts”

Congress of the United States | “Letter to The Honorable Jason Smith Chairman”

The New York Times "The Republicans Pushing Trump to Save Biden's Clean Energy Tax Credits"