‘Despite our previously unified stance’: Republicans turn on each other as energy tax credit battle heats up

Disagreements within the Congress Republican party are growing over the energy tax credits that were part of the Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These divisions could disrupt the GOP’s larger budget plans. Recently, 38 Republicans signed a letter calling for a full repeal of the credits, which clashes with an earlier letter from 21 Republicans in March that suggested more specific changes instead of a complete removal.

This major disagreement shows how hard it will be for Speaker Mike Johnson to get his party to agree on a clear plan. According to The Hill and Politico The 38 Republicans claimed that keeping some credits while removing others would go against the party’s supposed belief in letting the market decide energy production.

They worried that if different groups keep fighting to protect their favored subsidies, the entire IRA might stay in place because there’s no clear rule for deciding which credits should stay or go. This conflict contradicts Speaker Johnson’s statement in February that the Republican strategy would be somewhere between a “scalpel and a sledgehammer,” meaning they would neither make tiny changes nor wipe out everything.

Republicans are more divided over green deals

The opposing views highlight the big challenges Republican leaders face as they try to reach a full budget deal. The timing of the 38-member letter adds to the confusion since it came after a letter from four senators who opposed a full repeal and another from 21 Republicans who wanted more precise changes. These internal fights are slowing down progress on legislation.

The House Agriculture and Energy and Commerce Committees, which are supposed to find major spending cuts to pay for Republican tax plans, have both postponed their planned meetings. The delays are partly due to arguments within the Agriculture Committee about big cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Lawmakers are struggling with how severe these cuts should be, especially since the committee is required to find $230 billion in savings as part of the party’s budget plan. At the same time, Republicans are trying to move more of the farm bill into their own party-line package, which could mean the end of the usual bipartisan process for passing a farm bill this year.

The fact that they are adding things like export trade promotion, livestock biosecurity, and other farm bill funding into their larger GOP plan makes this even more likely.