Congressional Democrats appear poised to slide green energy giveaways into legislation designed to boost the economy while aiding people suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.
Fortunately, they have been called out by free market energy policy analysts and advocates who are opposed to Green New Deal-type policies that could greatly inflate the cost of the stimulus package under consideration.
The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, along with Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, is making every effort to “slip extensions for expired tax giveaways and Green New Deal policies into the current funding package meant to stabilize the economy and aid Americans suffering from the coronavirus,” according to a press release from the American Energy Alliance, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that favors free market energy policies.
AEA points to several reports and documents, including this one, that describe how House and Senate Democrats operating in partnership with green advocacy groups and renewable energy interests have seized upon an old playbook. In the past few days, it has become evident that they are working to exploit the crisis in an effort to enact policies that expand the size and influence of government while raising energy costs.
Some of the green giveaways currently on deck in Congress include extending the consumer tax credit for electric vehicles while also expanding on tax credits for wind and solar power favored by environmental activists. Markey, who is a primary sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution in the Senate, is also working with Whitehouse to combine aid for airlines with green energy restrictions.
Tom Pyle, the president of AEA, had some choice words for political figures who seek to “slip failed green policies” into legislation that should remain focused on the coronavirus.
“The proposed inclusion of seven expired renewable energy tax credits will do nothing to stimulate the economy or help anyone’s general health, and will only line the pockets of renewable energy companies, the wind and solar lobby, General Motors and Tesla,” he said in the press release. “For industries that claim they no longer need the support of the government, we continue to see them try and capitalize on the suffering of everyday Americans in the pursuit of a seemingly never-ending stream of government handouts.”
Pyle continued, “From the presidential primary, to the response to this unprecedented global pandemic, it appears the green lobby is a growing and disturbing force within the Democratic Party, driving them to an extreme, radical, out-of-touch agenda that is now literally bargaining with people’s lives.”
Kevin Mooney (@KevinMooneyDC) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an investigative reporter in D.C. who writes for several national publications.
