Mike Johnson Seeks Money From Inflation Reduction Act | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON — Like everybody else in his occasion, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) voted in opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022.

But now that it’s the legislation, it seems he’s joyful to faucet into that cash for his district.

In a Nov. 15, 2024, letter, Johnson privately urged the Environmental Protection Agency to award an environmental justice grant to a metropolis in his district ― a grant funded by the IRA, E&E News reported Friday.

“I understand the funds will be used to support their ‘Empowering Communities with Innovative Solutions to Reduce Pollution, Build Climate Resilience and Improve Public Health Project,’” he wrote, per a replica of his letter obtained by E&E News.

The speaker is throwing his assist behind a grant utility from town of Minden and Louisiana Tech University. Their challenge “is designed to focus on water quality and sustainability … specifically targeting underserved communities in north Louisiana,” he wrote.

It’s not clear how a lot grant cash was being requested.

The IRA, which offers greater than $369 billion in clear vitality incentivesis certainly one of Joe Biden’s signature accomplishments as president. It is essentially the most vital motion Congress has ever taken on clear vitality and local weather change.

Johnson railed in opposition to the invoice when it handed the House. In a scathing assertionhe known as it “legislative malpractice,” a “730-page disaster,” and complained that it will ship “hundreds of billions of tax dollars to green energy slush funds.”

“Over the next few years, as Americans wonder why consumer prices stayed high and the economy stayed in neutral — while the global climate remained unchanged — they should recall this clueless gang of Washington Democrats who thought that more government spending would ease inflation, that higher taxes would grow the economy, and that government-issued green energy subsidies could change the weather,” he stated on the time.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal the IRA, and as lately as SeptemberJohnson stated he needs main cuts to the legislation, which he stated “is costing twice as much as it was advertised and is sending our taxpayer dollars to China.”

A Johnson spokesman dismissed the obvious contradiction of the speaker making an attempt to get cash for his district from a invoice he voted in opposition to and plans to roll again.

“Despite the media working with a radicalized agency to advance a false narrative, simply asking for fair consideration for the people members of Congress represent — in any method that the federal government spends money — is obviously in no way an expression of support for a disastrous bill that’s caused higher inflation and crushed the American people,” stated the spokesman.

An EPA spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for a replica of Johnson’s letter.