Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is working to preserve some provisions of former President Joe Biden’s signature climate bill as Republicans look for savings to pay for their reconciliation package, according to Politico.
Murkowski suggested that her party should be “taking a more cautious and conscientious approach” to repealing the bill instead of taking a “big hammer” to the green energy credits included in Biden’s trillion-dollar Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Politico reported. The IRA, which received no votes from Republicans in Congress in 2022, is facing major cuts as Republicans look for possible savings to fund President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
As part of the proposed GOP budget bill to advance the Trump administration’s priorities, House Republicans plan to cut billions in clean energy subsidies implemented during the previous administration, including credits for electric vehicles, “green” household products like heat pumps, and energy-saving doors and windows.
Credits for hydrogen production, as well as advanced manufacturing and nuclear power production would be phased out, dividing right-of-center energy policy analysts. The bill also seeks to end “transferability,” which allows project sponsors to transfer the credit to a third party, and crack down on the ability of Chinese companies to benefit from the subsidies.
“I’m pretty sure that there would be a fair number on that list, on the House side, who are hoping against hope that we in the Senate will work to soften that,” Murkowski told Politico. She was one of four Republican senators who asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune in April to preserve certain energy tax credits in the IRA.
Murkowski, who previously stated that she is “not attached to the Republican label,” reportedly said in April that she is “afraid” of retaliation from the Trump administration. She was one of two Republicans to vote against the confirmation of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, despite having voted for the vast majority of Biden’s Cabinet nominees.
If the IRA isn’t modified, estimates suggest that it could end up costing taxpayers over $1 trillion by 2032 and $4.7 trillion by 2050.
Murkowski argued that the proposed changes would be too abrupt and might jeopardize planned green projects, particularly those in her home state of Alaska, Politico reported. The senator previously criticized the Biden administration for dozens of “anti-development decisions” targeting Alaska, including taking huge swaths of resource-rich land off the table for development and retroactively canceling oil and gas leases.
Additionally, not all House Republicans are fully in favor of totally repealing the IRA, as more than a dozen Republicans issued a statement urging party leaders to ease their rewrite of the IRA credits.
Meanwhile, some of the fiscal hawks in the GOP want to take an axe to the IRA altogether.
“The Inflation Reduction Act, better known as the Green New Scam, is providing massive unlimited subsidies to billion dollar corporations and Chinese manufacturers to the detriment of American energy freedom and dominance,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “If Republicans want to unleash American energy dominance and support the President’s energy agenda, we have no choice but to fully — and immediately — repeal the Green New Scam.”
The House will vote on the reconciliation bill before it moves to the Senate for further modifications.
Murkowski’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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