By Michael Brooks
The wind and solar industries were disappointed last week that Congress’ massive $2 trillion stimulus bill did not include extensions of the production and investment tax credits.
In a joint letter to Congress, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was causing “delivery delays, necessary employee absences, serious financing concerns, and project cancellations or postponements. This is jeopardizing the jobs of our combined 364,000 workers, threatening to sidetrack tens of billions of dollars in investment.”
President Trump on Friday signed the bill, the largest stimulus legislation in U.S. history, as shelter-in-place rules grind the U.S. economy to a near halt.
The major provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act (S. 3548) include $1,200 checks for millions of taxpayers “as rapidly as possible”; programs to disburse nearly $900 billion in loans to business impacted by the pandemic; and an expansion unemployment benefits.
AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan said “relief provisions ensuring renewable projects can secure financing and meet safe harbor continuity schedules are critical to preserving a strong domestic clean energy sector. Making these adjustments to existing tax credits would provide the industry the flexibility needed to accommodate COVID-19 delays, without costing the federal government any additional money. … Without assistance, 35,000 American jobs, $43 billion of investment and $8 billion in payments to local communities are at risk.”
SEIA CEO Abigail Ross Hopper acknowledged that some of the bill’s provisions for individuals and displaced workers would benefit solar industry workers. But she warned that “as a result of this pandemic, the solar industry stands to lose half of our jobs.”
The tax credit extensions were also not part of a separate bill introduced by House Democrats while Senate leaders and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin negotiated over the Republican-crafted CARES Act, though the House bill did include emission limitations for airlines. When Democrats blocked passage of the Senate bill March 22, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) the next day falsely accused them of holding up the bill over the extensions and emission limits.
“Democrats won’t let us fund hospitals or save small businesses unless they get to dust off the Green New Deal,” McConnell said. “They’re continuing to hold up emergency measures over tax cuts for solar panels.”
In truth, McConnell was outraged by Democrats blocking a procedural motion on the bill after he had rallied his caucus members to bite their tongues and pass a House Democrat-crafted bill the week before as an initial response to the crisis. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his caucus were likewise peeved that Republicans had included a $500 billion fund in the CARES Act to bail out corporations harmed by the crisis without any oversight provisions. The partisan rancor led to a rare, actual debate on the Senate floor, between McConnell and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
After two days of negotiations, however, the Senate ended up passing the bill early Wednesday morning, 96-0. The House of Representatives followed on Friday, passing the bill by voice vote, rather than unanimous consent off the floor as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had wanted, after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) indicated he would object and attempt to force members to record their votes.
This forced 218 members of the House to travel back to D.C., some of whom drove to avoid flying, to assemble a quorum to block Massie’s motion — this despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory not to have 10 or more people gathered in one place.
Trump signed the bill into law hours after the House passed it.
