Trump vs. Biden’s historic climate agenda
Donald Trump is vowing to dismantle the heart of Joe Biden’s governing legacy — the effort to spend more than $1 trillion on a pro-climate reshaping of the American economy.
He may soon get his chance.
Trump’s power would not be unfettered even if he defeats Vice President Kamala Harris in November. But he would have multiple potential avenues to block, rewrite or slow-walk large parts of Biden’s $1.6 trillion in climate, energy and infrastructure initiatives, Republican officials and government spending experts tell POLITICO — in some cases, limited only by how aggressively he chooses to attack them. The results could be one of the most lasting consequences of the November election, with implications for everything from hundreds of planned electric car, battery and renewable energy factories to hopes for slowing the Earth’s warming.
Susan Howard, director of policy and government relations at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said mandatory highway funding under the infrastructure law would be safe from any attempted repeal, given it has “very little to do with politics” or even control of Congress.
“That is as ironclad as it gets when it comes to domestic spending and budget authority,” Howard said.
Long shot
Republican priorities
Other grants and loans of the law could be safe from interference due to the support they’ve garnered from GOP lawmakers or Republican-aligned industries since the passage of the laws.
Financing for projects creating jobs in the lawmakers’ districts, or supporting industries that they’ve historically backed such as nuclear power or carbon capture, could be safe from rollback attempts. That dynamic came into play during last year’s debt ceiling fight, when several GOP lawmakers blocked provisions that would have axed subsidies for biofuels benefiting farmers in their states.
Trump has also largely been silent on his plans for one major Biden-era law: the CHIPS and Science Act that passed Congress with bipartisan support, which includes $24 billion in subsidies to manufacture semiconductors inside the United States.
Former officials and other experts see that industrial policy law as potentially safe from Trump interference, particularly given its focus on countering China.
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