House Republican letter urges an end to all IRA handouts via the reconciliation bill

Congressional Republicans were unanimous in their opposition to the Green New Deal when it was introduced in 2019, and for very good reason given that it would waste vast sums of tax dollars foisting unwanted and uneconomic energy choices on us all. And when these expensive climate provisions became law in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), they did so without a single congressional Republican vote in support. But now that the government has begun to dole out potentially trillions of dollars in IRA subsidies, a few House and Senate Republicans are balking at the chance for complete repeal in the upcoming budget reconciliation package. Fortunately, a May 1 letter from 38 House Republicans to the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means makes a convincing case for unwavering opposition to all of these ill-advised measures. 

Since the IRA was enacted, the federal government has dispensed vast sums to pursue its green energy agenda, including money going to states and districts represented by Republicans. For example, the incentives for new and expanded electric vehicle (EV) and EV battery manufacturing alone have led to a reported 169 subsidized projects underway, with a majority located in red America. Never mind that these and other IRA priorities are boondoggles in the making – a recent Gallop poll shows declining public interest in buying EVs – their political beneficiaries, some Republicans included, see them as a source of free money enriching local businesses and creating make-work jobs.

The same can be said for the generous IRA subsidies encouraging a buildout of wind and solar electricity generation. And the buildout is still happening despite mounting evidence that such intermittant sources pose serious reliability risks, including the recent blackouts in Spain and Portugal.

The letter does a very good job explaining the potential harm posed by a few Republicans defending their preferred subsidies. It emphasizes that “[t]he longstanding Republican position has been to allow the market to determine energy production. If every faction continues to defend their favored subsidies, we risk preserving the entire IRA because no clearly defined principle will dictate what is kept and what is culled.”  

Perhaps the most important point in the letter is that the damage done by IRA subsidies goes beyond the money squandered on politically correct green projects – the statute interferes with the free market processes that are the true solution to the nation’s energy challenges. “Each of these subsidies props up unreliable energy sources while displacing dependable, proven energy like coal and natural gas,” it notes, adding that “leaving IRA subsidies intact will actively undermine America’s return to energy dominance and national security.”

In other words, there are vital free market principles at play that are far more important than pork barrel politics, and these principles are best advanced by full repeal of the IRA and its Green New Deal agenda.