Democrats Reveal Ambitious Plans To Make Inflation Reduction Act Even Worse

The ill-named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has marked its first anniversary of promising subsidies galore for those who want to get in on the green energy bandwagon.

But the rule of massive wealth transfers like the IRA, its already generous handouts are never enough for those who've lashed themselves to the green mast. And they are making a pitch that if voters give Democrats full control of the federal government – Congress and the White House – they will make the next green energy bill bigger and more generous (with other people's money) than the IRA could ever be. According to Politico, Democrats have a growing wish list of projects and incentives:

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said he wanted to try again to secure funding for the proposed Civilian Climate Corps, a green jobs training and placement program Biden supported during his 2020 White House bid.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Congress needs to pay renewed attention to boosting funding for geothermal energy.

And Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) is urging colleagues to continue fighting for a price on carbon dioxide pollution, something some lawmakers pushed for during last year's negotiations.

And so on. But it's not all carrots and promises of government employment. Some are eager to use force to get the green transition into an even higher gear:

[University of California at Santa Barbara Prof.] Leah Stokes also said the IRA might not have ultimately had enough “sticks” — or punitive mechanisms to force utilities to lower their emissions — to really force a change in behavior.

Because force is really what this is all about. Some of it is soft coercion – the lure of subsidies (paid for with other people's money or, being government, simply borrowed). You can get “free money” by making a switch that's good for you and the planet. Or not. Either way, you're paying for it.

But nothing describes the green push like coercion. Make the change to our way of doing things, or face the legal consequences. That's a surefire way to make other people suspect your motives.

Or, as in the case of the GOP, a guaranteed way to ensure they come up with a counteroffer to voters that would do away with the current IRA scheme and replace it with…an energy policy right out of the 1980s:

Called Project 2025, it would block the expansion of the electrical grid for wind and solar energy; slash funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's environmental justice office; shutter the Energy Department's renewable energy offices; prevent states from adopting California's car pollution standards; and delegate more regulation of polluting industries to Republican state officials.

If enacted, it could decimate the federal government's climate work, stymie the transition to clean energy and shift agencies toward nurturing the fossil fuel industry rather than regulating it. It's designed to be implemented on the first day of a Republican presidency.

At least they have a plan – an extensive one, too. And it's so different from the existing green regime that voters actually have a clear choice about which way to go on climate and energy issues.

That's a good thing. Study your options and decide accordingly.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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