-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I will try to truncate my remarks. I know we have a vote coming up at 2 o'clock. I will try to keep the floor running on time.

I rise today in support of my colleague's effort to overturn the IRS's new rule which is making it harder for wind and solar projects to qualify for critical clean energy tax credits.

Families across the country are already struggling to get by with rising costs--costs that are going up at the grocery store, at the doctor's office, when you are trying to pay the monthly rent or your mortgage, at the pump, and, increasingly, our energy bills.

Since President Trump took office last January, California household electricity costs have increased by 15 percent. That is more than five times the rate of inflation. So it makes no sense that this administration is making it harder to build the very energy projects that would help--energy projects that would increase supply of electricity, energy projects that would help bring down the cost of electricity. One of the many ways they are doing it is with this new IRS rule that is changing the rules in the middle of the game.

For years now, companies could qualify for a clean energy tax credit once they had invested at least 5 percent of a project's cost into the project. It is what we refer to as the ``5 percent safe harbor.'' That is how businesses make their plans, that is how businesses make their investments, and that is how businesses were able to break ground on a number of necessary projects.

But now, even with projects that are already underway, they may not qualify for the tax credits anymore that they were counting on, that they were planning on. The net result--not project by project but overall--is that fewer of these projects will get built, and the projects that do power through somehow may get to the finish line, but they will be more expensive. That means less energy comes online, and once again the price of that electricity is going to be higher for families and for businesses and for everybody.

I am proud to represent California, where we are leaning in on clean energy production, not just to meet the growing demands on the grid of our growing economy and our growing population but also modernizing in a way that will make us more resilient to the threats of wildfires and extreme heat.

We have experience in this, and we know. I can share with you, colleagues, that building more clean, reliable, and affordable energy projects isn't just an option; it is fundamentally essential.

So we have to recognize the impact of this rule and recognize that it is part of a broader pattern. Over the past year, we have seen repeated efforts to block or delay clean energy projects, whether it is halting offshore wind, canceling funding, or undermining projects that are already underway, as I just explained. At the same time, as my colleague and friend from Virginia just articulated, global instability is driving up fossil fuel costs even further.

This, colleagues, is a perfect example of why the Congressional Review Act exists. When an Agency takes an action that harms the American people, we in Congress don't just have the authority, we have the responsibility to step in. That is what this resolution does. It overturns the misguided IRS rule, it can restore certainty for business, and it can help get clean energy projects back on track.

So I urge my colleagues to support the energy investment credit CRA.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source