“This is about protecting American workers,” Rep. Jason Smith said.”This is about protecting American workers,” Rep. Jason Smith said.
The House delivered a rebuke to President Joe Biden on Friday, voting 221-202 to revoke his two-year suspension on imposing new tariffs on solar equipment imports from four Southeast Asian countries that are suspected of acting as conduits for Chinese products.
Lawmakers from both parties have increasingly targeted Chinese imports of clean energy equipment to the U.S. as tensions between the two countries mount. But many climate advocates and green energy developers have warned that cutting off solar imports before the U.S. has expanded its own production capacity would set back the new projects that are critical to cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and have increasingly cropped up in red congressional districts.
Twelve Democrats joined 209 Republicans to vote in favor of the Congressional Review Act resolution, H.J. Res. 39 (118). Eight Republicans voted against the resolution.
The bipartisan support raises the stakes ahead of a Senate vote on the measure, where several Democrats have already said they would vote to rescind Biden’s two-year pause that was announced last June.
