President Joe Biden’s signature climate law has put House Speaker Mike Johnson in a bind. The Louisiana Republican has pledged to repeal large parts of the Inflation Reduction Act if the GOP wins a governing trifecta this November — a move conservatives have been crying for since the legislation’s passage two years ago. But Johnson is also facing mounting pressure from members of his party to preserve major tax boons in the law that benefit their districts, writes Emma Dumain. In response, Johnson is keeping his commitments somewhat vague. During remarks Tuesday at the American First Policy Institute, Johnson pledged to cut Democrats’ “wasteful” spending and “hold the handle” of former President Donald Trump’s “blowtorch” to the regulatory state. He even appeared to endorse the idea of clawing back obligated but unspent dollars from the climate law — an unusually aggressive action that Trump has at least tacitly supported by vowing to “rescind all unspent funds” under the IRA. But Johnson also told CNBC just before taking the stage that he does not intend to gut the climate law’s entire suite of clean energy tax credits. “You’ve got to use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer,” he said, “because there’s a few provisions in there that have helped overall.” Do the math: The IRA included $145 billion in direct spending on energy and climate programs, as well as tax breaks estimated to be worth at least $527 billion. Many if not most of the financial rewards in the climate law are headed to red districts, where clean energy manufacturers have said they intend to set up shop. And the number of GOP lawmakers urging the speaker to keep his hands off the tax benefits is growing, Emma reported this week. Eighteen House Republicans sent Johnson a letter last month urging him not to target the tax credits benefiting the districts they serve. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) have requested meetings with the letter’s organizers in a sign that party leaders are taking the issue seriously. Still, Johnson pledged to be “very aggressive” at the AFPI event. When Larry Kudlow, Trump’s former National Economic Council director, proposed pulling back the climate law’s obligated dollars, Johnson replied, “Exactly. “You can save a lot of taxpayer funds if you do it more responsibly,” Johnson said. In an email to Emma, Johnson’s spokesperson declined to comment further on the speaker’s plans for the climate law’s tax credits. But his remarks put environmental groups on high alert. Evergreen Action Executive Director Lena Moffitt said Johnson’s pledge to cut such “popular investments” shows he is “willing to throw even members of his own caucus under the bus to do Donald Trump’s bidding.”
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