Vetoes Bipartisan Solar CRA
WASHINGTON — In a win for Chinese solar manufacturers that are illegally violating U.S. law and stunting the growth of the American solar manufacturing supply chain, President Joe Biden vetoed yesterday bipartisan legislation that passed the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bipartisan resolution of disapproval (H.J. Res. 39) under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) would repeal the Biden administration’s Solar Emergency Declaration. This harmful Declaration, in effect until June 2024, protects Chinese solar manufacturers even though the U.S. Commerce Department recently determined, after an in-depth investigation, that they are illegally evading tariffs. The House is expected to hold a vote to override the President’s veto.
In President Biden’s veto message to Congress, he writes that, “For too long, because of unfair trade practices and underinvestment in domestic manufacturing, the United States has been reliant on China for solar energy products.” By vetoing the bipartisan Solar CRA, the President is enabling the very same unfair Chinese trade practices that he laments.
“By vetoing this bipartisan legislation, President Biden is choosing to protect China’s subsidized solar companies that benefit from state-sponsored forced labor, and further deterring American manufacturers from investing and creating jobs in America,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA. “The Department of Commerce investigation determined that China is illegally violating U.S. trade law and avoiding tariffs. Not only does President Biden’s veto undermine the legislative intent of the Inflation Reduction Act to reshore the domestic solar manufacturing industry, but it also green lights the CCP’s illegal trade cheating, while destabilizing America’s path to solar manufacturing self-sufficiency and increasing pollution from solar production due to China’s historic construction of dirty coal plants.”
A recent poll of likely voters, conducted by Morning Consult for the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA), shows 80% of likely voters, including 76% of Democrats and 77% of Independents, are concerned that the Solar Emergency Declaration protects Chinese solar manufacturers who are illegally avoiding tariffs. Additionally, a significant majority (62%) of likely voters, including 61% of Democrats and 55% of Independents, support Congress passing the bipartisan Solar CRA.
