Democratic leaders should prioritize aid, including extending tax credits, to help a clean energy sector decimated by the economic fallout from Covid-19, a group of 179 House Democrats said in a letter.
The group urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to extend expiring tax credits and convert some of those tax breaks to more valuable direct payments.
Direct payments from the Treasury Department would allow wind, solar, and other clean energy companies to receive a cash payment now instead of receiving year-end tax credits, which can better help companies attract and leverage investment capital.
More than 600,000 clean energy workers—from wind and solar installers to energy efficiency contractors—have lost their jobs since February, and the industry is on a path for more job losses in June, according to the letter.
The clean energy sector employed a high of 3.4 million before the pandemic, and two-thirds of those employees worked at companies with less than 20 employees, according to the letter.
The primary signatories were Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) a senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, Matt Cartwright (Pa.), and Mike Levin (Calif.).
Other senior Democrats on the letter included Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (N.J.); Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (N.Y.) and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva (Ariz.).
No Republicans signed the letter.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Learn more about Bloomberg Law or Log In to keep reading:
See Breaking News in Context
Bloomberg Law provides trusted coverage of current events enhanced with legal analysis.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools and resources.