Remarks as Prepared for John Podesta at Third Way on Inflation Reduction Act’s Two-Year Anniversary
Thanks so much, Josh, and thanks to Third Way for hosting today’s event and for your years of advocacy for a clean energy future. It’s great to be here with all of you.
We’re gathering during a summer that’s been defined by the climate crisis.
July 21st was the hottest day ever recorded by humans.
That title lasted for exactly one day. July 22nd was even hotter.
The consequences of a rapidly warming planet aren’t just about the loss of faraway places like the Great Barrier Reef or the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.
It’s about the daily impact on people’s lives…from Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Debby that have already pummeled the Gulf and East Coasts this summer…to the extreme heat affecting workers in the Southwest…to the wildfires that are raging in California.
To combat this existential threat, President Biden and Vice President Harris set a bold vision to build a clean energy economy by creating good-paying, union jobs and spreading opportunity to every corner of America.
And two years ago, they took the biggest step yet to turn that vision into reality by passing and signing the Inflation Reduction Act.
That law makes the largest investment in climate and clean energy in not only the history of America…but the history of the world.
It tackles climate pollution in every economic sector—power, transportation, buildings, industry, agriculture and forestry.
And it does all this by investing in workers, communities, and families.
The IRA invests in workers by catalyzing a clean energy boom that’s creating good-paying, union jobs all across America.
The law does this with a government-enabled, but private sector-led approach…providing ten-plus years of certainty through expanded and enhanced clean energy tax credits…signaling to businesses that they can think big and make long-term decisions.
Treasury guidance is now available on 21 out of 24 tax credit provisions.
That’s given the private sector the certainty it needed to announce more than $415 billion in new clean energy investments since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office.
$265 billion of that investment has been announced since the IRA passed…creating more than 300,000 jobs.
President Biden and Vice President Harris are working to make sure those are good-paying jobs you can support a family on.
Jobs that offer a free and fair chance to join a union and the right to organize and bargain collectively.
The IRA effectively makes strong labor standards an offer the private sector can’t refuse by providing five times the value of tax credits when developers pay prevailing wages and hire registered apprentices.
In addition to investing in workers, the IRA is aiming to build more clean energy—in the right places—by investing in underserved communities.
Woven into the fabric of the law’s tax credits are game-changing incentives for companies to invest in low-income communities and energy communities. And they are working.
According to Treasury analysis, since the IRA passed, 75% of clean energy investments have been in counties with lower than median household incomes.
Clean energy investments in traditional energy communities have doubled in the past two years.
And federal dollars are directly flowing into communities through the grant side of the law.
$118 billion of the grants, loans, and rebates in the law are considered covered programs under President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure 40% of the benefits of specific federal programs flow to disadvantaged communities.
Federal agencies have already awarded nearly two-thirds of all available grant, loan, and rebate funding.
And of the grant dollars that can be spent this year, 84 percent have been awarded or are in a pending Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Some big examples are EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which made awards this spring…and $4.3 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants they announced last month.
In March, DOE announced awards across 20 states through the Industrial Demonstrations Program—the largest investment in clean manufacturing in U.S. history.
And HUD has now awarded 70% of its IRA funds through the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program…which translates to more than 20,000 cost-saving home energy upgrades for seniors and low-income families.
That brings me to the third category of people benefitting from the IRA: American families.
Through the law’s consumer programs, families are already saving money on solar panels, EVs, heat pumps, and more…helping them save hundreds or even thousands every year on energy.
Since January 2024, more than 250,000 Americans have claimed the IRA’s EV tax credits, saving about $1.5 billion total. Nearly all of these buyers claimed the incentive at the point of sale.
Families in New York and, as of last week, Wisconsin can get rebates off electric appliances and energy efficiency improvements at home…and more states will launch their programs later this summer and fall.
Consumers are also benefitting from tax credits that offer up to 30% off heat pumps, insulation, rooftop solar, and other home energy technologies.
Last week, the Treasury Department and the IRS released the first public data on the IRA’s consumer clean energy tax incentives.
The new analysis shows that in 2023, more than 3.4 million American families benefitted from $8.4 billion in tax credits to lower the costs of clean energy and energy efficiency upgrades to their homes.
That’s millions of Americans that are now saving money every month on their energy bills…on top of the millions of Americans whose communities are benefitting from IRA grant dollars or seeing new clean energy projects bringing good-paying jobs and opportunity to their hometowns.
Have we solved every challenge facing the clean energy economy? Of course not.
But the bottom line is this: Two years in, the largest climate investment in history is working.
So, understandably, people are asking if that investment can really stick regardless of who is in power here in Washington.
My answer to the question of whether the Inflation Reduction Act has staying power is yes.
No Republicans voted for the IRA—but they know their constituents are receiving the benefits.
According to Climate Power, 58 percent of the new clean energy jobs created since the IRA passed are located in Congressional districts represented by Republicans.
Those jobs come from over 300 new clean energy projects totaling $282 billion in investment.
Some Republicans—especially governors—know that all this activity is a good thing.
Take Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. Today, he’s celebrating the end of construction in his state for the largest direct air capture facility in America.
Last week, Governor Gianforte of Montana applauded a $700 million investment from the Department of Energy—funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—for the North Plains Connector transmission project that will link three regional grids and boost clean power capacity.
Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina has welcomed clean energy investments for many years…from the EV supply chain…to the Columbia solar inverter facility by Enphase and Flex that President Biden and I visited last summer.
And last week, 18 House Republicans wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson urging him not to repeal the IRA’s energy tax credits.
The letter says, “Prematurely repealing energy tax credits, particularly those which were used to justify investments that already broke ground, would undermine private investments and stop development that is already ongoing. A full repeal would create a worst-case scenario where we would have spent billions of taxpayer dollars and received next to nothing in return.”
These guys get it.
But there are others who are trying to claw back jobs, raise costs, and take away opportunity—and hoping the American people won’t notice.
In the past two years, House Republicans have attempted to repeal all or parts of the Inflation Reduction Act 42 times.
Now, they’re at it again in the latest round of federal appropriations bills for the next fiscal year.
House Republicans pay lip service to clean air and clean water.
But they’re proposing the lowest funding level for the EPA in over 25 years…
Attempting to block EPA standards and programs to reduce pollution, from particulate matter to methane…
And trying to slash funding for our national parks and the Arctic…clean energy on our public lands…and meeting our commitments to Tribal nations.
House Republicans say they care about jobs.
But they’re trying to prevent funds from being used for the American Climate Corps…which is already supporting 9,000 young people serving their communities in climate and environmental jobs.
House Republicans say they want to speed up permitting for infrastructure and private sector projects.
But they’re trying to prevent the Council on Environmental Quality from enforcing its updated NEPA rule…which actually implements the permitting efficiencies Congress directed them to make.
House Republicans say we should be tough on China.
But they want to slash DOE funding that supports clean energy demonstration projects and the Loan Programs Office…a key program that boosts America’s competitiveness and gives us a leading edge over China.
House Republicans say that prices are too high.
But they’re proposing to raise costs by preventing DOE from enforcing energy efficiency standards for home appliances, which are projected to save families nearly $73 billion on their utility bills over the next 30 years…
And trying to divert money away from weatherization, which would prevent more than 55,000 low-income households from receiving assistance to reduce their energy costs.
On top of all that, House Republicans have added riders to these appropriations bills that attempt to block the implementation of nearly every executive action on climate and clean energy that President Biden has taken.
If that’s not climate denial, I don’t know what is.
These attempts to undo our climate and environmental progress—including many of our bedrock environmental laws—will only take our country backward.
They will hurt our economy and our communities.
They will undermine the good work the Inflation Reduction Act is doing to build a clean energy economy across America.
And they will send our efforts to rebuild clean energy manufacturing back overseas.
It’s why the White House issued veto threats last month for four House appropriations bills.
President Biden and Vice President Harris will continue to fight these bad-faith attempts to roll back the clock on our growing clean energy economy and undermine the fight against climate change.
But they need your help.
We need the private companies that are claiming IRA tax credits to tout the jobs you’re creating…the investments you’re making…the facilities you’re opening.
Don’t take it for granted that elected officials or the public know about the work you’re doing.
We need families that have saved money on clean energy to tell their friends and neighbors how easy it is to access the IRA’s consumer tax credits. You can visit energystar.gov/homesavings to learn more.
And we need elected officials from red and blue states alike to recognize the opportunity the law is bringing to their communities—and to continue to embrace it.
We’re talking about two very different visions of the future.
One takes us forward…giving families more breathing room and bringing jobs and opportunity to every corner of America.
The other takes us backward…raising costs…killing jobs…and stifling opportunity.
It’s up to every single one of us to move our collective work forward…for the benefit of workers, communities, families, and our planet.
Thank you and I’ll invite Josh back up onto the stage for our discussion.
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