As the White House continues its efforts this week to pass President Joe Biden’s signature legislative packages, Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is urging that his solar tax credit legislation be included.
Ossoff and several of his Democratic colleagues held a press briefing Tuesday as negotiations between Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer continue working toward passing the president’s Build Back Better Act and his trillion-dollar infrastructure deal.
“We have a generational obligation, an historic obligation, to address climate change, and to move from our dependence on fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy,” Ossoff said. “The president has laid out an ambitious agenda to achieve a 40% solar mix by 2035. The solar tax credit inclusion will supercharge solar manufacturing in the U.S., because solar demand is skyrocketing in the nation.”
Ossoff said his Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act is designed to provide tax credits for American manufacturers at every stage of the solar manufacturing supply chain, from production of polysilicon, to solar cells, to fully assembled solar modules. He said the legislation would help boost domestic solar production, create good-paying American jobs, and reduce solar panel purchasing from China.
Ossoff was joined by fellow Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, as well as Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. U.S. House Democrats participating in the news conference included Reps. Dan Kildee of Michigan and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey.
Warnock said Dalton – a city internationally known for its carpet manufacturing industry — is already home to QCell, “the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere.”
“It would be a monumental mistake to trade demand on foreign oil for demand on foreign solar energy manufacturing supplies,” Wyden said.
During a Monday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president is facing “an inflection point” this week regarding his legislative packages.
Psaki said Biden’s packages include plans to lower prescription drug costs, invest in roads and bridges, cut taxes on middle-income families, replace lead-contaminated drinking water pipes, give every American access to high-speed internet, reduce the costs of child care and address the devastating impacts of climate change.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.