Local conservatives travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Congress about climate policy
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News from Citizens’ Climate Lobby
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Climate-concerned conservatives from Montana recently visited Washington, D.C. to urge Republican members of Congress to preserve the clean energy tax incentives driving investment and jobs in Montana.
On Wednesday, March 5, right-of-center constituents from Montana met with the offices of Senators Daines and Sheehy and Representatives Zinke and Downing to talk about how the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits have spurred unprecedented private investment, driven innovation, and created well-paying jobs across the country.
Although the landmark legislation was passed by Democrats along partisan lines, more than 80% of the planned $129 billion factory buildout — and tens of thousands of jobs — would go to Republican congressional districts (Canary Media). Montana has seen clean electricity projects from wind farms, battery storage, hydro, to sustainable aviation fuel, bringing in millions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
“It was an honor to meet with all my members of Congress at the weekly Montana coffee and then visit with their teams to discuss how they are working to protect the Montana community,” said Max Scheder-Bieschin.
Max joined right-of-center volunteers from Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) who traveled from across the country to meet with Republican Congressional offices. Their message? Rolling back clean energy tax credits would disrupt ongoing projects and weaken America’s global competitiveness in clean technology industries.
In particular they emphasized how the IRA’s clean energy tax credits continue to:
Drive private investment amounting to five to six times the public dollars allocated. This leverage ensures taxpayer money is efficiently used to maximize economic growth.
Create high-quality jobs. Tens of thousands of well-paying jobs, from construction and manufacturing to engineering and technology have already been created. Rescinding these credits would put these jobs at risk and halt further job creation.
Ensure a predictable investment environment. Businesses and investors rely on predictable tax policies. Repealing these credits would undercut existing projects, discourage future investments, and waste taxpayer dollars on halted projects that have already broken ground.
As House Republicans gear up to decide which incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act should be cut to pay for their upcoming budget reconciliation bill, this information is an important consideration.
A growing number of GOP representatives, who have enjoyed billions of dollars in new investments in their districts thanks to the IRA, are also urging caution. In recent days, 21 Republicans, whose districts have benefited, wrote a letter to the Ways and Means Committee laying out how “countless American companies are utilizing sector-wide energy tax credits.”
The letter added: “Both our constituencies and the energy industry alike remain concerned about disruptive changes to our nation’s energy tax structure.”
“If the tax credits are chopped, it will severely undermine Montana’s all-of-the-above energy policy, and hurt the workers and their families who need the good-paying jobs provided by projects like the Calumet biofuels plant and local wind farms. Our tax dollars will have been wasted if projects that are well underway get their funding frozen and a repeal would result in a $142 per year increase in household electricity bills. It’s common sense to keep these tax credits in place,” added volunteer Alex Amonette.
Before the lobby meetings, volunteers attended CCL’s 2025 Conservative Climate Leadership Conference.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that brings together volunteers from across the political spectrum to advocate for federal legislation to reduce climate pollution and bolster clean energy.
