House energy coalition decries Republicans’ ‘Big Ugly Tax Scam’ as reckless

House Republicans voted for polluting corporations and against clean energy tax credits and America‘s manufacturing sector Wednesday night.

Leaders of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), including Co-Chairs Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Quigley, and Paul Tonko and Vice Chairs Reps. Don Beyer of Virginia, Suzanne Bonamici, Sean Casten, Mike Levin and Chellie Pingree responded to the U.S. House passage of the House Republican Tax Scam (H.R. 1) that raises costs on every aspect of American life while adding more than $5 trillion to the national debt.

House Republicans are killing the American clean energy economy by eliminating clean energy tax credits, pulling the rug out from under America’s manufacturing sector, creating a brazen new “pay-to-play” bribery scheme for polluting corporations and clawing back critical cost savings for American families.

“House Republicans’ Big Ugly Tax Scam represents a massive giveaway to billionaires and mega-polluters, while also raising the everyday costs of living for hardworking American families,” the leaders responded.

While 1/3 of Americans struggle to pay electric bills, House Republicans decided to take a sledgehammer to cost-saving clean energy tax credits in order to shovel hundreds of billions of tax cuts to America’s ultra-wealthy.

“Republicans don’t want to admit that the cheapest energy is clean energy, which is why solar, wind and battery storage accounted for 93 percent of all new American energy supply in the past year. Gutting our clean energy tax credits will raise electricity prices for everyday Americans by more than $110 per year. This reckless plan picks energy winners and losers, boosting expensive, inefficient and dirty sources like coal over cheap American-made clean energy, to the detriment of our pocketbooks and an energy-secure American future.”

House Republicans’ mega bill would end a recent manufacturing renaissance in America and send jobs to foreign competitors, including China.

“The chaos and uncertainty inflicted on the economy by Trump and House Republicans has already resulted in more than 62,000 clean energy jobs lost or stalled in America. Eviscerating our advanced manufacturing tax credits will only further drive up costs for businesses, kill American manufacturing jobs and sell off our clean energy economy to our foreign competitors.”

Americans are struggling with increasing medical bills, higher home insurance costs because of natural disasters, yet House Republicans choose to add fuel to the fire.

“This bill not only kicks 14 million Americans off their health care but also claws back critical climate investments that protect our communities from flooding, wildfires, hurricanes and other ever-worsening disasters. On top of this, Republicans’ tax scam also contains an appalling attempt to legalize corruption for fossil fuel companies, creating a pay-to-play bribery scheme for the very companies contributing to the climate crisis to avoid any accountability. This kind of blatant bribery and crooked corruption is un-American to its very core.”

Late into Wednesday night, House Republicans chose “to cater to the extremist members of their party to deliver even more brutal cuts” for Americans instead of listening to the concerns of American businesses desperate for long-term stability.

“House Republicans have cut a shady midnight deal with Trump and his ultra-wealthy donors to sell off our future generation’s livelihood and planet to billionaires and polluters at bargain prices. When our children ask us why everyday life is so unaffordable in America, we can simply thank House Republicans’ One Big Ugly Tax Scam,” the leaders wrote.

What the Ways and Means section does:
Effectively fully repeals clean energy production and investment tax credits for any technology other than nuclear that will jeopardize the 400,000 new jobs and $44 billion in announced clean energy investments.
Immediately phases out credits so that only projects that are on the cusp of beginning construction can use them. Projects that have sunk time and money into planning will suddenly be ineligible for a credit that might have been vital to making their project financing math work.
Creates unworkable “foreign entity of concern” restrictions that will freeze investment in clean manufacturing and related supply chains due to compliance uncertainty.
Ends transferability for technology other than nuclear, which will block access to cheaper financing options, thereby limiting the amount of clean energy that will get deployed across the country.
Ends long-standing home energy efficiency tax credits, actively taking money away from American households who want to conserve energy and reduce costs.
Eliminates clean vehicle tax credits, which will increase costs for consumers and sacrifice the American auto sector’s ability to compete with the exploding Chinese auto sector.

What the Energy and Commerce section does:
Repeals and rescinds funding from Environmental Protection Agency programs that protect Americans from pollution and help American households save money on energy costs and medical bills. Some of these programs include:
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that is dedicated to lowering energy bills and cutting pollution.
Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants that support disadvantaged communities to reduce pollution and pollution-related health impacts in their communities.
Methane Emissions and Waste Reduction Incentive Program to reduce pollution and waste from the oil and gas sector, improving the health and economic wellbeing of overburdened communities, while also saving energy.
Clean Heavy Duty Vehicle Program that helps communities replace old polluting diesel engines and vehicles — some of the dirtiest vehicles on the road—with new, clean vehicles.
Clean Ports Program that helps improve air quality around U.S. ports and address the public health and environmental impacts to surrounding communities.
Repeals life-saving Clean Air Act standards for vehicle pollution and fuel efficiency that help Americans save money at the pump and improve health outcomes in our communities.
Eliminates funding for the Department of Energy Loan Programs and the Advanced Industrial Facilities Deployment Program that help commercialize next-generation American-made technology, bringing manufacturing back to America and creating good-paying jobs, while also developing cutting-edge technologies that save Americans money and reduce pollution in American communities.
Creates a pay-to-play bribery scheme for polluters that allows oil and gas companies to pay a fee and bypass standard permitting, environmental reviews, and judicial review processes. Pipelines and LNG export terminals would no longer need to be found in the public interest. Whether it’s a natural gas pipeline or a natural gas export terminal, companies can simply buy their way to permit approval. This is blatant and unconscionable corruption.

What the House Natural Resources section does:
Instantly boosts big oil and gas company profits by letting them drill and frack at bargain-basement prices while robbing taxpayers blind.
Puts polluters before people by letting the wealthy companies pay for legal immunity for inadequate environmental reviews and slapping Americans with exorbitant fees to protest oil and gas pollution.
Slashes funding for critical and popular public services like NOAA’s coastal restoration and resilience efforts and the National Parks workforce, making it harder for Americans to protect their communities from natural hazards and visit our nation’s most scenic and inspiring places.
Locks up 4 million acres for unprofitable coal mining – more land than the entire state of Connecticut – taking our energy policy back to the 19th century.
Mandates dirty mining and drilling deals that will create toxic disasters in our nation’s most pristine lands and waters, permanently polluting places like the Boundary Waters and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Crushes clean energy development by jacking up fees for wind and solar while slashing fees for oil and coal.
Wipes out protections for endangered species, including dooming the planet’s most endangered whale to extinction by waiving all sensible safeguards for offshore oil and gas operations.

The SEEC is a coalition of 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives that was founded in January 2009 to be a focused, active and effective coalition for advancing policies that address climate change, promote clean energy innovation and domestic manufacturing, develop renewable energy resources, create family-sustaining clean jobs, protect our nation’s air, water, and natural environment, and promote environmental justice.

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