WASHINGTON DC (February 12, 2020) – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles "Chuck" Grassley responded to Senate Democrats’ misleading and baseless letter on energy tax policies that ignores recent and longer-term history on how to successfully enact bipartisan green-energy policies.
“Since I returned as Chairman of the Finance Committee last year, a top priority was the extension of the so-called extenders, which include a significant number of green-energy policies that remained expired for nearly two years,” Senator Grassley wrote. “That priority was frustrated by a lack of interest or enthusiasm on the part of many who have traditionally supported addressing tax-incentives intended to encourage, among other things, the production and use of clean and renewable fuels, to promote electricity generation from certain clean and renewable sources, and to build more energy-efficient buildings and homes.”
Last year, after Democrats showed little interest in holding hearings on temporary tax-policies, Sen Grassley launched bipartisan tax taskforces to determine a path forward for the policies, which included reviewing stakeholder comments and proposals related to electric vehicles, offshore wind, energy storage, and technology-neutral energy incentives.
“Repeated attempts were made to find a path forward to markup tax extenders and a handful of new associated energy provisions,” Sen Grassley continued. “Yet each time, the insistence on expanding the EV credit, primarily to the benefit of high-income earners, continually derailed these efforts. All this, despite the strong opposition to such an expansion on the Committee and in the Senate, which virtually assured that such a bill, even if it could be reported by the Committee, would have no path to success.”
Sen Grassley reiterated that he remains open to continuing discussions started last year and that he looks forward to advancing bipartisan energy policies that can be enacted into law.
Sen Grassley has long been a leader in renewable-energy tax policy. Sen Grassley is the father of the wind-energy production tax-credit and has been the leading champion of biofuels policies, including the biodiesel tax-credit. As chairman, Sen Grassley has worked to renew several other expiring renewable-energy tax policies in the 2000s and 2010s, including those encouraging electric energy, most recently at the end of last year.
Sen Grassley’s full letter can be found HERE.
