WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, while the White House hosts a celebration marking one year since the enactment of the Democrats’ energy-killing Inflation Reduction Act, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released an oversight report outlining the failures of the legislation, which spends trillions of dollars and decimates American coal and natural gas production.
The report focuses particularly on the damage and waste from Inflation Reduction Act programs within the EPW Committee’s jurisdiction, and the potential for further historic waste, fraud, and abuse.
“As Democrats celebrate the one-year anniversary of their partisan climate and regulatory spending spree, the reality is the results have been devastating for the American people,” Ranking Member Capito said. “The Inflation Reduction Act poured trillions of taxpayer dollars into unaccountable programs that have done little to actually reduce emissions. Americans should know that through this legislation they’ve subsidized the Democrats’ first iteration of the Green New Deal, all while they continue to pay sky-high prices to fill up their tanks and power their homes. It’s no surprise the Inflation Reduction Act, which was written in secret and rushed through Congress on a party-line vote, is extremely unpopular in energy-producing states like West Virginia, and this report outlines exactly why.”
BACKGROUND:
The partisan Inflation Reduction Act, projected to cost $1.2 trillion, was agreed to behind closed doors in August 2022 and passed when Democrats circumvented the regular order process.
By the EPA’s own projections, the legislation will decimate the coal and natural gas sector, costing American jobs and jeopardizing the national energy grid.
During floor debate of the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, Ranking Member Capito filed an amendment to eliminate a provision that would have given the EPA $45 million in additional funding to use eight different sections of the Clean Air Act to issue regulations on greenhouse gases like the ones announced in May (Sec. 111 of the Clean Air Act). That amendment failed 50-50 with every Senate Democrat voting “no.”
Ranking Member Capito then successfully challenged the provision as violating the requirements of the Congressional Budget Act. The damaging provision was stripped out of the bill after the parliamentarian determined it violated the “Byrd rule” of that statute.
Access the full report here.
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