No Change to Consumer Assistance in Revised American Clean Energy & Security Act, H.R. 2454
On June 24, Republican members of the House Ways & Means Committee circulated yet another false claim about the pending clean energy bill, H.R. 2454. In an inflammatory email today, they claim that a new version of H.R. 2454 supposedly “yanks middle class tax relief” from the bill.
That’s completely false. Here are the facts:
1. The bill was – and still is – loaded with relief for consumers.
2. For starters, H.R. 2454 protects everyone who uses electricity by providing free allowances – worth hundreds of billions of dollars – that must be used to protect ratepayers.
3. To further benefit American consumers, the bill provides $250 billion (in present value) of tax refunds for every taxpayer in the country, starting in 2020.
4. Finally, to address the special needs of low-income families, the bill goes even further and provides extra relief for these households.
5. It’s only this third type of consumer relief, directed at low-income households, that has changed at all in the new version of the bill. Even there, the amount of assistance hasn’t changed one cent. The only difference is a technical change in how that assistance would be delivered — from a tax credit to a refund.
In short, clean energy opponents’ attack machine has misfired again.