The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the business lobbying group historically aligned with conservatives, said Wednesday it does not support House Republicans’ efforts to repeal Democrats’ clean-energy tax credits in a GOP proposal to raise the debt ceiling.
The House is expected to vote Wednesday on legislation to hike the debt ceiling to avoid default and slash government spending, including the majority of the $370 billion set aside for green energy projects in Democrats’ tax and climate spending law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA.
“We did support the IRA provisions, and many of our companies do as well,” Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President for Policy Martin Durbin testified to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Mr. Durbin said the Chamber also opposes repealing the IRA’s methane fee for excess emissions of the potent pollutant from petroleum and natural gas facilities, which the House Republican bill includes.
The panel’s Democratic chairman, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, quipped: “Let me just note, those are the right answers.”
The Chamber said in a statement its position on the broader bill is positive.
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the movement of legislation on raising the debt ceiling while reducing deficit spending,” the group said. “It is critical that this effort lead to meaningful negotiations and we urge the administration to resume discussions with congressional leaders. It is impossible to overstate the negative consequences that would occur if the United States were to default on its debt.”
But the policy disagreement between the Chamber and House Republicans escalates a feud with GOP leaders, who earlier this year began giving the group the cold shoulder for using its deep pockets to endorse some Democratic candidates in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles. Top Republicans have accused the lobbying firm of losing its pro-business and conservative values.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in February they would refuse to meet with the Chamber of Commerce after retaking the majority.
“The priorities of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have not aligned with the priorities of House Republicans or the interests of their own members, and they should not expect a meeting with Speaker McCarthy as long as that’s the case,” McCarthy spokesman Mark Bednar told CNBC at the time.
Scalise spokeswoman Lauren Fine added that “unless the Chamber gets back to their traditional pro-business roots, they should not expect to have any engagement with Majority Leader Scalise’s office.”
The House is expected to narrowly pass the GOP debt-limit bill Wednesday after making last-minute concessions for Republican holdouts. It’s meant to mark a starting place for negotiations with Senate Democrats and President Biden, which means the clean energy tax credits and the methane fees are safe — at least for now.
Democrats argue the repeal of the clean energy credits is akin to raising taxes and therefore undercutting Republicans’ pledge not to raise taxes, an assertion GOP leaders rebuff.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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