A new lobbying push will look to pitch Biden-era green corporate welfare and carbon tariffs as America First-aligned to the Trump administration and lawmakers, Axios reported Friday.
The Cleaner Economy Coalition (CEC) is a newly-formed 501(c)(4) entity that “sees an opening in the Trump era” to pursue carbon tariffs and save the 45X tax credit, a costly subsidy for green energy manufacturing unleashed by a bill — the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — that did not receive a single GOP vote on its way to becoming law, according to Axios. The CEC is hiring lobbyists who formerly worked for President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and it will have a seven-figure budget at its disposal to try to convince Republicans to back policies long favored by greens and liberals.
“We need an approach that starts with promoting U.S. competitiveness. That has to be the central component to any U.S. climate policy,” Greg Bertelsen, who will lead CEC, told Axios. “We’re leaving huge economic points on the board today, and we are risking ceding enormous economic opportunity in the future.”
