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The senior US Republicans tasked with dismantling Joe Biden’s signature climate policy have enjoyed an investment boom of more than $130bn in the areas they represent thanks to the former president’s law.
The majority of Republicans on the House ways and means committee, the House and Senate budget committees, and the Senate finance committee, which will implement sweeping tax cuts promised by Donald Trump, have benefited from a jump in clean energy investment under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, according to a Financial Times analysis.
On the campaign trail Trump pledged to “terminate” the act — which can only be done by Congress — and on his first day in office, he signed an executive order freezing loans and grants worth more than $300bn.
With the Republicans holding a narrow three-seat majority in the House, party members must secure near-unanimous support to implement the president’s pledge and scale back or repeal the act that has poured billions into their districts.
The extent of the rollback could test whether they put the interests of their voters ahead of their loyalty to the president. “Time will tell as to whether it will be Trump’s priorities or they’ll be a broader constituents’,” said Ted Brandt, founder and chief executive of Marathon Capital, an investment bank that specialises in renewable energy.
The FT analysed data for investment in energy projects and manufacturing from the Clean Investment Monitor, a database created by Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to track public and private spending in clean technology by district.
The analysis shows Chuck Grassley, who sits on the Senate finance committee and is third in line for the presidency, has had investment in his state of Iowa jump 40 per cent to $2.7bn since the IRA was passed in 2022.
Among other committee members, investment in Senate majority leader John Thune’s home state of South Dakota grew nearly fivefold, and majority whip John Barrasso’s state of Wyoming has reaped an almost 90 per cent jump.
On the House ways and means committee, Blake Moore, vice-chair of the House Republican conference, had investment grow more than 400 per cent in his district in Utah, while Jodey Arrington of Texas, who also chairs the House budget committee, had investment grow 20 per cent in his.
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Investment in Republican senatorial committee chair Tim Scott’s state of South Carolina has grown 380 per cent since the IRA was passed. He insisted the windfall “isn’t the result of a short-term spending spree”, although Harry Lightsey, the state’s commerce secretary told the FT in a 2023 interview that the act’s incentives had helped spur the development of a battery supply chain in the state.
Jason Smith, Republican chair of the House ways and means committee, said the IRA was “financing Wall Street’s green obsession” and benefiting the Chinese Communist party.
But vice-chair Vern Buchanan acknowledged some parts of the act were beneficial. “I support a close examination of the IRA tax credits . . . Some may help workers and our economy,” he said, but added “many are wasteful giveaways that should be repealed”.
Some Republicans have indicated they are looking at ways to retain some spending. “We are looking at repealing some of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act energy credits with a scalpel rather than a meat cleaver,” said Ron Estes, a Republican representative from Kansas who sits on the House ways and means committee.
Marlin Stutzman, an Indiana representative on the budget committee, suggested tax credits be repealed on future, rather than current, projects. “There are companies out there that have built their business models around the tax credits and incentives, and so I wouldn’t want to see us hurt those companies,” he said.
In January at least 10 Republicans supported the IRA in testimony to the House ways and means committee. In a letter to the Senate finance committee, House ways and means committee, and House and Senate budget committees earlier this month, a bipartisan group of more than 130 local leaders pleaded to preserve the act’s tax credits.
The FT asked all Republican members on the House ways and means and Senate finance committees, as well as the House and Senate budget committees whether they would vote to undo the IRA. Most did not respond or declined to comment.
Uncertainty over the act’s future has chilled activity in the renewables sector, despite the US attracting more than $490bn since it was passed, according to CIM data.
“To the extent that this administration is hoping to unleash American energy . . . and continue to create a pro-business environment, regulatory uncertainty is unhelpful for doing that,” said Marcia Hook, an energy regulatory and markets partner at law firm Clifford Chance.
Climate Capital
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