Don’t Sabotage America’s Competitiveness Edge—Keep the IRA Investments

In a moment when the U.S. should be leading the world in clean energy and innovation, Congress is actively trying to derail one of our most powerful economic tools behind our progress: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)’s tax incentives. Nowhere is this more evident than in the attacks on Section 45V, the clean hydrogen production tax credit.

While working for Senator Tom Carper, then a senior member of the U.S. Senate Finance Commitee and Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Commitee, I held a leadership role in drafting many of the provisions within the IRA and heard firsthand the excitement around the IRA investments from industry. Like many of the IRA provisions, we crafted the 45V clean hydrogen tax credit in close partnership with leaders across the industrial spectrum, as well as other stakeholders. The credit would become the largest investment in clean hydrogen in the world, designed to spur investment in all clean hydrogen technologies: blue, pink, and green. Beyond the hydrogen community, ammonia producers, steelmakers, chemical manufacturers, and nuclear operators, all saw the benefits of this new credit for their industries. After the IRA passed, not only did U.S. companies start building out new clean hydrogen projects, but companies began divesting from other countries to invest in the U.S.—because 45V made America the most attractive place on the planet to build the clean hydrogen economy. Today, we see that the economic payoff is staggering, for every dollar invested through 45V, we generate $7 in GDP.

What’s happening in the hydrogen industry is just a microcosm of what is happening across our energy and manufacturing sectors. Hundreds of billions of investments across our economy have been announced and, after decades of decline, manufacturing was finally up at the end of 2024. All thanks to the IRA.

So why on earth would Republicans try to gut it? This isn’t about the deficit. Their own package scores over $2 trillion, and by Speaker Johnson’s own admission, they don’t believe tax credits even affect the deficit. So that excuse doesn’t hold water. Let’s be honest: undermining IRA isn’t fiscal responsibility, it’s economic sabotage.

If they succeed, here’s what we lose:

• Stranded assets and abandoned projects mid-construction.

• Lost jobs across steel, chemical, manufacturing, and clean tech sectors.

• Higher energy prices for American households and businesses.

• Slower AI deployment due to a crippled energy buildout.

• Ceding leadership to countries like China, who are racing ahead in hydrogen, AI, and clean energy.

This is not abstract. Clean energy projects made possible by the IRA are shovel-ready now, able to meet the growing power demands from AI, industry, and electrification. Waiting on alternative sources could take 5–10 years. We do not have that kind of time. And while I didn’t agree with everything DOE Secretary Wright said this week—especially his dangerous dismissal of climate change and alarming views of clean energy—he’s not wrong about one thing: the U.S. must win the AI race. But we cannot do that if we cripple the very energy sources that can get us there. Let’s not play partisan games with the AI race or the future of American energy. We can’t claim we’re in an “energy emergency” while gutting the very tools that address it.

Keep the IRA tax credits. Power America’s future.

Laura Gillam, President ResilientPath Strategies

www.resilientpathstrategies.com