(Georgia Recorder) — Georgia’s U.S. senators are outraged at the prospect of large job losses for clean energy workers if the Republican Congress implements its proposed cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act.
Georgia Democratic U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are opposing Republican members of Congress supporting President Donald Trump’s administration budget spending plans that could lead to the repeal of federal manufacturing incentives fueling Georgia’s clean energy projects, including solar energy projects and its growing battery storage and electrified vehicle industries.
Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has championed the state’s emergence as a leader in electric vehicle production, vowing to make the state the country’s EV leader.
Ossoff and Warnock are joined by a number of clean energy groups that claim Congressional tax cuts to the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act could result in the loss of 42,000 jobs in Georgia. Investing in more than 50 clean energy projects worth more than $28 billion has made the state a national leader in clean energy.
In 2022, Congress passed the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act tax credits that supported nationwide hundreds of billions of dollars in funding and loans to various battery manufacturing such as solar and electric vehicle manufacturing.
Georgia’s senators are flagging studies that found that Georgia is at risk of losing 42,000 jobs if Washington Republicans in Congress vote to eliminate tax credits for the inflation act.
Georgia’s clean energy economy has led the nation since former President Joe Biden signed the IRA in 2022.
On Tuesday, Warnock released an analysis of the “clean energy boom in Georgia.
The progressive nonprofit Climate Power released a report this year detailing Georgia’s $31 billion in clean energy investments, only behind New York’s $115 billion job-creating projects.
Cuts could be ‘catastrophic’ Ossoff warns
On April 30, Ossoff and Climate Power said a loss of federal support for clean energy projects will inflict economic pain in Georgia.
“If Republicans repeal these manufacturing incentives, it could be catastrophic for Georgia’s economic development,” Ossoff said. “The manufacturing incentives that we passed into law have driven more private investment into new industrial plants in Georgia than just about any other state in the country.”
Congressional Republicans adopted a budget spending plan in April that lacks $1.5 trillion in savings to offset the new spending.
The budget slashes $21 billion from funding for renewable energy, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and other efforts to reduce climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions. The request also targets climate research spending and initiatives meant to promote diversity.
Four Senate Republicans and 21 House Republicans have urged their leadership to preserve the clean energy tax credit.
Budget wish list
The president’s budget request is a wish list for Congress, which controls federal spending, to consider. Even with both chambers of Congress controlled by Republicans sympathetic to Trump’s policies, it is just a starting point for negotiations between the administration and Congress.
The Warnock report found that during the last three years of the Inflation Reduction Act, nearly all new investments and jobs in Georgia are outside of the Atlanta region.
The majority of new jobs and investments are in counties with lower bachelor’s degree rates, according to Warnock.
Trump began his presidency by pausing grants and distributions in Biden’s energy legislation, including investments intended to expand renewable energy and clean energy manufacturing. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun the process to reverse federal greenhouse pollution limits for cars.
Warnock says Trump’s taking aim at the electric vehicle industry by pushing for a repeal of a $7,500 tax credit on electric vehicles is counterproductive.
“In a political era defined by gridlock, everyone can agree that we should protect investments that are spurring good-paying manufacturing jobs,” Warnock said.
“There is bipartisan support for protecting the clean energy investments which support Georgia jobs, Georgia manufacturing, and Georgia innovation,” Warnock said. “These investments are bringing real change to communities and families across the state, but those good-paying clean energy jobs are under threat.
Pooler Republican U.S. Congressman Buddy Carter has steadfastly promoted Trump’s environmental regulations rollbacks of the Biden administration’s clean energy policies. Carter’s coastal Georgia district is home to Hyundai’s $7.6 billion EV plant near Savannah.
Leading the nation
Georgia is leading the nation in new clean energy jobs and private investment, including a projected 43,000 new jobs created since August 2022, according to a Jan. 16 report from environmental watchdog Climate Power.
Georgia is a major reason why the Southeast is the national leader for EV and battery-related jobs and private sector investments, according to a 2024 report from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Georgia earned the group’s top spots in the region for its projected 27,394 new jobs and investments exceeding $24 billion.
Tax incentives offered by the state, with the strong backing of Kemp, were used to secure commitments from Hyundai and Rivian to build electric-powered vehicles at massive new plants projected to employ thousands of people
Stan Cross, electric transportation director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said that current political instability could undermine progress made by state leaders who promoted investments in workforce new electric vehicle manufacturing sites like Hyundai.
Cross said it’s tough to predict what Congress will or won’t do to support electric vehicles in Georgia. But there’s no doubt a transition to EVs will certainly reduce tailpipe emissions, Cross said.
“Georgia is No. 1 in the private sector for EV and battery manufacturing investments and jobs, making Georgia the number one in having the most to lose if the financial incentive rug gets pulled off from under the state,” Cross said.
