House RINOs Line Up To Save Biden’s Legacy Climate Law

House Republicans are lining up to save one of former President Joe Biden’s legacy items from the chopping block as lawmakers look for possible savings to fund President Donald Trump’s first-year legislative agenda.

Twenty-one House Republicans, led by New York Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, wrote a joint letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith Sunday, urging Congress’ chief tax writer to preserve hundreds of billions of dollars in green energy tax credits from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that he signed into law in August 2022. The GOP cohort’s letter is an indicator that GOP leadership may need to look elsewhere to find spending cuts to pay for the president’s tax and spending priorities during budget reconciliation.

“We have 20-plus members saying, ‘Don’t just think you can repeal these things and have our support,’” Garbarino, who voted against the IRA, told POLITICO. “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,” Garbarino continued.

Trump repeatedly vowed to repeal Biden’s $1.2 trillion climate law, dubbing the IRA the “Green New Scam” in a speech at the New York Economic Club in September 2024. Biden admitted in August 2023 that the IRA had “nothing to do with slowing inflation” and was focused on spurring a green energy buildout during a speech in New Mexico to tout the law.

Republican Rep. Erin Houchin of Indiana, the House Republican conference secretary, and Republican Reps. Buddy Carter of Georgia, Mike Lawler of New York, Don Bacon of Nebraska and John James of Michigan signed the letter.

Four freshmen lawmakers, Republican Reps. Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania and Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd of Colorado also signed the letter.

The 21 House Republicans’ view that Biden’s green energy tax credits align with Trump’s “America First” vision of unleashing energy abundance and enhancing the country’s energy security is notably disputed within the GOP conference. Some conservative lawmakers have advocated for a full repeal of the IRA during budget reconciliation negotiations, citing the law’s soaring costs and distorting energy markets in favor of solar, wind and low-carbon technologies.

Fissures within the GOP about whether to repeal or cap green energy tax credits during budget negotiations comes as Republican congressional districts have overwhelmingly benefited from investments that companies have made as a result of the climate law’s tax subsidies, according to data from Atlas Public Policy’s Clean Economy Tracker.

Green energy tax credits could be protected from repeal efforts due to Republican lawmakers witnessing green energy manufacturing booms in their districts and states combined with lobbying from companies to preserve the subsidies.

A majority of the green energy sources and low-carbon technologies spurred by the IRA have posed problems for grid reliability and often depend on government subsidies to stay afloat.

“Full repeal right now of energy tax credits would be a disaster for what companies have paid for, for what we’ve already invested in with taxpayer dollars,” Garbarino also told POLITICO. “Even starting to phase them out would end up making a project moot.”

A complete repeal of the IRA’s green energy tax credits could allow for up to $796 billion in 10-year savings, according to a House Ways and Means Committee document outlining more than $5 trillion in potential spending cuts first obtained by POLITICO.

The House Budget resolution provides instructions to reach $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending cuts. If Republicans fail to reach $2 trillion in savings, lawmakers will have less room to implement the president’s tax priorities, including an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, due to an amendment pushed by fiscal hawks. The president has also asked Congress to enact no taxes on tips, Social Security benefits, overtime pay and make interest payments on automobile loans fully tax deductible.

The House budget resolution will also unlock funding for immigration enforcement agencies to fast track the president’s deportation efforts and boost defense spending by tens of billions of dollars.

Repealing the IRA’s electric vehicle tax credits could garner widespread support among congressional Republicans during the budget reconciliation process. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso introduced legislation in February to end the IRA’s $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit.

The 21 Republicans who signed the letter are signaling they will protect key parts of the IRA despite the law receiving no GOP votes when it passed Congress in August 2022.

Republicans who signed the letter, including Garbarino, slammed the IRA following its passage along party lines in August 2022.

“I voted AGAINST the deceptively named ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ just like I voted against the reckless Build Back Better scheme,” Garabino wrote in a press release following his vote against the IRA. “We can’t tax and spend our way out of the economic crisis that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi created. Two hundred and thirty economists agree that the so-called Inflation Reduction Act is expected to contribute to skyrocketing inflation and burden the American economy.”

“This bill is bad for Long Islanders and bad for the American people,” Garabino continued. “Shame on Congressional Democrats for forcing through this irresponsible legislation to score a political win at the expense of American taxpayers.”

Garbarino previously led 18 House Republicans in sending a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson in August 2024 advocating against a full IRA repeal.

Senate and House Republican leadership have not taken any of the IRA’s tax credits off the table as potential cuts lawmakers could make during ongoing budget reconciliation negotiations.