Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is warning voters within the swing state of North Carolina that they might lose their jobs if Republicans weaken a Biden administration law that encourages investment in manufacturing and clean energy.
According to a draft of a speech she’s going to deliver Thursday at a community college in Raleigh, Yellen says Republican-dominated states like North Carolina profit greatly from tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and that repealing them could be a “historic mistake.” That’s in keeping with a draft of a speech she’s going to deliver Thursday at a community college in Raleigh. The Treasury Department released the remarks ahead of the speech.
North Carolina has emerged as a key battleground this election cycle between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harriswhere Trump ultimately won North Carolina within the 2020 presidential election.
According to Yellen, Treasury Department data shows that 90,000 North Carolina households have claimed greater than $100 million in clean energy tax credits and $60 million in energy efficiency tax credits.
“Repealing these measures could raise costs for working families at a time when it is imperative that we continue to take action to lower prices,” Yellen said in her speech. “It could jeopardize the significant investment in manufacturing that we are seeing here and across the country, along with the jobs that come with it, many of which do not require a college degree. And it could give China and other countries that are also investing a competitive advantage in these important industries.”
“As we see clearly here in North Carolina, this would be a historic mistake,” she says.
Some Republicans urged their politicians to reconsider eliminating energy tax credits for IRAs.
A gaggle of 18 Republicans within the House of Representatives in August called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to reconsider his efforts to eliminate them.
“Early elimination of energy tax credits, particularly those used to justify investments already underway, would undermine private investment and halt developments already underway,” the letter says. “A complete elimination would create a worst-case scenario in which we would have spent billions of taxpayer dollars and received next to nothing in return.”
But Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, tweeted on social media site X that the lawmakers who signed the letter “want to maintain the so-called ‘green’ handouts to the Democrats’ corporate friends.”
“Republicans must ignore the K Street lobbyists and refuse to give money to the climate corporations that are destroying our country,” he said.
Republicans base their argument against the inflation control law on the undeniable fact that the spending is wasteful and advantages China.
IRS data released in August said 3.4 million American families have applied for $8.4 billion in clean energy and residential energy efficiency tax credits in 2023 – mostly for solar panels and battery storage.
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