Republicans Keep Voting to Kill Jobs Disproportionately Benefitting Their Own Districts

Washington, D.C. – A new analysis by Climate Power, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Climate Action Campaign finds that MAGA Republicans in Congress have already voted 16 times to repeal the popular and effective Inflation Reduction Act in whole or in part since its passage just over one year ago. You can view the analysis and relevant votes here. 

“It seems the only thing the House MAGA Republicans can come together on is doing the bidding of Big Oil,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, League of Conservation Voters. “Instead of keeping the government working and supporting popular programs that are tackling climate change, creating jobs and lowering costs, the extreme House Republicans keep reverting to Big Oil’s playbook of rolling back clean energy incentives, environmental safeguards, and support for the communities most impacted by decades of pollution and racism, including low income and communities of color. Instead of more chaos and cuts, Congress should be focused on supporting the Biden-Harris affordable clean energy plan and the ways it is helping people across the country.”

“While MAGA Republicans have unleashed chaos and demonstrated their complete inability to govern, one thing has united them: opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act and the national clean energy economic boom it has unleashed,” said Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power. “MAGA Republicans have voted over and over to end the clean energy boom and eliminate popular provisions that take on Big Oil greed. President Biden and Democrats are focused on creating jobs and growing the middle class while the only thing Republicans can agree on is tanking the economy.” 

“In just the last few months, Republicans in Congress have voted dozens of times to stop the clean energy transition in its tracks. They voted to end the climate and clean energy job creation boom, to endanger our health, and, most appalling, to continue a legacy of environmental racism. Now, they are threatening to shut down the government if they do not get their way,” said Margie Alt, director of the Climate Action Campaign. “What this country needs is just the opposite: more action to slash the pollution causing climate change and more action to protect vulnerable communities and the health of families that live on the frontlines of pollution. We cannot and will not tolerate more policies that pad big polluter profits and let them off the hook for the damage they inflict on all of us. Climate can’t wait and neither can we.”

MAGA Republican Repeal Attempts Threaten Clean Energy Boom – In Their Own Districts

In the year since its passage, the Inflation Reduction Act has helped unleash a massive clean energy boom in communities large and small in states across the country. The latest Climate Power Clean Energy Boom report has documented clean energy projects creating 170,606 new jobs in 44 states were announced or advanced between August 16, 2022, and July 20, 2023. There are 272 new clean energy projects in small towns and big cities nationwide, totaling $278 billion in new investments.

The misguided attempts by MAGA Republicans to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act threatens to derail this boom and our progress in fighting climate change. Ironically, most of the clean energy projects and growth in the past year have occurred in congressional districts represented by Republicans. Through late July, 152 clean energy projects in 92 Republican held districts have moved forward with 96,216 new jobs, totaling over $224.8 billion in investments.

Clean Energy Boom Celebrated in Districts Across the Country

In another demonstration of how out-of-touch the MAGA Republicans are with the public, the August Congressional recess saw a flurry of events in Congressional Districts across the country celebrating the one year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act. Along with President Biden, Vice President Harris and the cabinet’s celebrations, climate and conservation groups organized over 70 in-district events with dozens of Members of Congress along with state and local public officials ranging from town halls to union halls, fairs, farmers’ markets and trainings on how to best take advantage of all of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy benefits.  

From H.R. 1 onward, MAGA Republicans have been trying to roll back popular programs that are already supercharging the economy with a clean energy boom in favor of more handouts for Big Oil. During the debt limit fight, they brought the country to the brink of crisis with demands for more severe cuts to popular and effective programs. As the new analysis shows, House Republicans have attempted to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act partly or in its entirety at least 16 times already, including in many of the spending bills moving through Congress. Now, they are threatening a harmful government shutdown if their extreme demands aren’t met.

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