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Former US military leaders are pressing Congress to reject a republican impulse to repeal billions of dollars in fiscal credits for critical minerals, warning that it would leave the country vulnerable to China.
A group of 23 generals and four -star retired admirals have asked Jason Smith, president of the Media and Media Committee of the House of Representatives, which protects five tax exemptions that cover advanced manufacturing, clean vehicles and electricity production. The committee will be expected to vote about the fate of some of the credits next week.
Former military leaders are members of SAFE, a group focused on critical minerals and energy security that is financed through donors ranging from charitable foundations to the industry and government of the United States. They include Admiral Dennis Blair, former director of National Intelligence, and General Joseph Dunford, the 19th President of the Joint General Staff.
The meeting fight is underlining unusual political alliances around the Law on Inflation Reduction of the Biden Era, which provided lucrative incentives for green energy projects and critical minerals.
The law is attracting the support of the industry and even some Republicans whose districts benefit from the resulting projects. Meanwhile, environmental groups have protested by the extraction of minerals, citing wildlife, water and ecological concerns.
Companies have unleashed a multimillion -dollar lobbying campaign with the aim of saving anger since Donald Trump won the November presidential elections. He has described legislation as a “new green scam” and promised to repeal it with the help of Republicans in Congress. The president wants to use the savings generated by eliminating the legislation to finance the planned tax cuts of his administration.
The repeal of the tax exemptions of the IRA could affect some of the 20 critical mineral projects recently accelerated by the Trump administration. These include lithium projects backed by lithium and standard equinor in Arkansas and Albemarle in Nevada. Critical minerals such as cobalt, nickel and lithium are essential in electronic equipment such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, rechargeable batteries and military hardware.
Some Republican members of Congress have asked party colleagues to “completely repeal” the law, saying that it could cost taxpayers $ 1TN for a decade and support renewable energy sources while fossil fuels displace fuels.
The lobbying follows the concerns raised by the Department of Defense this year about the “interruption of China to critical supply chains of the United States” by restricting rare earth exports and the equipment used to process them.
In a letter to Smith and the leaders of the Chamber and the Senate, the generals said that reducing the credits would threaten $ 125 billion in investments in projects of essential minerals essential for the defense industries. This would put 100,000 direct jobs at risk in 15 states and create opportunities so that companies linked to the Communist Party of China increase their global market share of key industries, they maintain.
“To repeal or weaken these provisions would not only stop the growth of critical industries, but would leave the United States vulnerable to the manipulation of the supply chain by hostile regimes and delay efforts to rebuild the industrial base of defense of the nation,” said the letter.
Trump has already directed the expense under the law ordering all federal agencies that “immediately pause the disbursement of funds under anger.” But the future of IRA finally depends on a vote in Congress, which approved the legislation in 2022 under a budget resolution. This means that only a simple majority vote is required in the camera and the Senate to repeal it, without opportunities for a filibuster.
Republicans have majorities in both Congress cameras, but IRA supporters expect some party members to oppose the repeal of tax exemptions, which support jobs in their constituencies.
On Thursday, a dozen Republican legislators wrote a letter to Smith, arguing that IRA tax credits were important for Republican states with large clean electricity projects, nuclear energy and battery storage, according to Reuters. However, the legislators said that “it was not unreasonable” to incorporate an elimination of credits.
“IRA will surely survive but not in its current form,” said Frank Maisano, a partner in the Bracewell policy and resolution group, a law firm and lobbying. “There is likely that there are some elements, such as Sunset’s provisions added to end certain tax credits before originally planned, among other changes.”
