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(Bloomberg) -- The House’s draconian cuts to former President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law won’t fly in the Senate, key Republican senators said Thursday.
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Just hours after the House narrowly passed a massive tax and spending bill gutting key clean-energy tax incentives, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Senate was planning its own effort.
“They give us a good product to work with but we have senators who want to write our own bill,” Thune said.
Other Republican senators said they were already planning to make changes.
Softening aggressive phaseouts of key tax credits for clean electricity production and nuclear power projects are among the top priorities, said Senator Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska who has bucked her party on key votes before.
“I’m concerned about the direction the House takes,” Murkowski said. “Obviously we have our work cut out for us.”
Senator John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, said he expected the Senate to make changes to limits the House put on the ability of project sponsors to sell tax credits to third parties.
Still, tough talk by Senate Republicans might not translate into action. Republicans who opt to vote against President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority risk the wrath of the president and as well as potential primary challenges, said Chris Moyer, a former Democratic Senate staffer.
“At the end of the day they are going to vote for a bill extending tax cuts for millions of Americans,” Moyer said.
While some moderate Republicans in the Senate have vowed to defend the energy credits, the tight margin in the House — where Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose three votes — may limit their ability to act as a firewall, said James Lucier, managing director at research group Capital Alpha Partners.
“The Senate will have a mind of its own,” Senator John Curtis, a Utah Republican who previously chaired the Conservative Climate Caucus when he served in the House of Representatives. But he added: “I think we’re also very well aware that it’s a tenuous situation in the House and that will be respected.”
Still, renewable energy stocks are tumbling, even as some Wall Street analysts suggested a final bill isn’t likely to be as damaging to the industry.