President Biden warned Congress on Monday that he is prepared to issue his third veto, this time against legislation to reimpose tariffs against Chinese solar panels.
A bipartisan bill to reinstate tariffs against solar imports from Southeast Asian countries that Chinese companies funnel their products through — to skirt U.S. trade laws — is set to be passed in the Republican-controlled House this week.
In the veto threat Monday, the White House said its tariff pause is vital to provide clean-energy solar projects with a cheap foreign supply source that account for 80% of panels used in the U.S.
“Passage of this joint resolution would undermine these efforts and create deep uncertainty for jobs and investments in the solar supply chain and the solar installation market,” said the White House Office of Management and Budget. “The Commerce rule provides a short-term bridge to ensure there is a thriving U.S. solar installation industry ready to purchase the solar products that will be made in these American factories once they are operational.”
The bill, which is a privileged resolution under the Congressional Review Act and must receive a vote in both chambers, is also expected to clear the Democratic-led Senate because it only requires a simple majority and avoids the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Its passage would mark the latest example of House Republicans rolling back Mr. Biden’s regulatory agenda using privileged resolutions, putting vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection next year in tough spots.
The president has vetoed two other pieces of legislation to strike separate environmental policies. The House failed to override both vetoes with the necessary two-thirds majority.
Mr. Biden’s first veto was against a measure to scuttle a Labor Department rule allowing 401(k) fiduciaries to engage in ESG investing. The second veto blocked an effort to roll back expanded powers for the EPA to issue federal protections over small waterways and wetlands.
The administration has said that Mr. Biden’s tariff waiver, which runs until June 2024, provides a temporary lifeline for clean-energy projects to meet growing demand while domestic solar manufacturers ramp up production from federal funding provided in recent climate and infrastructure laws signed by Mr. Biden.
But opponents of Mr. Biden’s tariff freeze say it undermines American jobs and allows a foreign adversary to get away with violating U.S. trade laws. Since the pause began last summer, the Commerce Department concluded that three solar companies from China and one from Canada skirted tariffs by finishing their Chinese panels in Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
“This should not be a partisan issue,” Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan, the lead Democrat pushing to reimpose the tariffs, said in a recent statement. “We cannot allow foreign solar manufacturers to violate trade laws, especially when it comes at the expense of American workers and businesses. By suspending tariffs on those who violate our trade laws, we are undermining our own American manufacturers and workers.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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