U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) recently led 18 of his GOP colleagues in calling for Democratic leadership to eliminate the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) from ongoing budget reconciliation negotiations.
In an Oct. 21 letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Stauber and his colleagues wrote that the CEPP would stagnate the U.S. economy further by increasing unemployment, raising energy costs, and harming the resiliency of the electric grid.
“With a potential winter heating crisis around the corner, I urge Democrat leadership in Congress to refrain from doubling down on their failed agenda and smothering our electric grid with blanket mandates that will only exacerbate these problems and cost American families more,” Stauber said on Oct. 26 in a written statement.
“We need a reliable and resilient energy grid that provides low-cost energy to American families. This can only be accomplished by supporting an all-of-the-above approach, not picking winners and losers from Washington, D.C.,” Stauber added.
The CEPP is a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s proposed climate change agenda but has been opposed by U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV). The plan calls for providing grants to power companies that boost the amount of clean energy they supply while penalizing those that do not.
In the letter, lawmakers wrote that the CEPP unrealistically demands that the energy grid be altered in 10 years to satisfy vague international commitments by picking winners and losers based on portfolio updates in unattainable year-over-year timelines.
“As we seek to combat the Biden Administration’s self-inflicted crises, we need to focus on putting Americans back to work, lowering the cost of living, and freeing up supply chains. Therefore, Congress needs to listen to our constituents, middle-class families, labor unions, and rural electric cooperatives and stop the CEPP carbon tax,” the lawmakers wrote.
Among the members who signed the letter were U.S. Reps. Mike Bost (R-IL), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and Tom Emmer (R-MN).