From NBC News: Tucked inside Republicans’ massive domestic policy bill is an excise tax for wind and solar projects, a provision that came as a surprise not just to the renewable energy industry, but also to numerous senators who are crafting the legislation.
In a twist, Republican senators insist they don’t know how or why the tax was inserted into the bill they’re rushing to pass. No senator is taking credit for or defending it. And at least one wants it removed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the Budget Committee chairman, who released the 940-page bill, said he doesn’t know where that provision came from.
“It’s a secret, I guess,” Graham told NBC News on Monday evening. “I don’t know where it came from.”
Another Republican senator was surprised by the provision.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the excise tax “just came about” as if it was “airdropped” into the bill.
“It wasn’t part of any consideration,” she said. “It’s like, surprise! It’s Saturday night. And we looked at it like, where did this come from?”
Murkowski said the provision is “entirely punitive to the wind and solar industry” and that the Senate is “looking at different options” to deal with it.
READ MORE AT NBC News.
