(As prepared for delivery)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for gathering us to discuss how in just 8 months, the Inflation Reduction Act has done more for American workers and families than the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has done in almost 6 years.

The climate crisis is real, and its effects are only becoming more extreme. In California, all but one of the state’s ten largest wildfires in history have occurred since 2017, and years of severe drought have now been followed by months of extreme rain and snow.

Democrats did something about this, and we made sure that the clean energy transition will mean more jobs, more manufacturing, and higher wages here in the United States. The Inflation Reduction Act is the single largest clean energy investment in U.S. history. With first-of-their-kind requirements to strengthen American supply chains and create quality, high-paying jobs, this legislation is proving that green jobs are good jobs, and putting the country on a path to responsible, sustainable energy independence.

So far, the green tax credits have spurred over 100,000 jobs for U.S. electricians, mechanics, construction workers, technicians, support staff, and others. Just in the law’s first six months, 90 new clean energy projects have been announced in 31 states. These projects include battery manufacturing, electric vehicle manufacturing, and wind and solar manufacturing sites.  If that isn’t delivering results for the American people, then what is?

Along with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act, these landmark laws have led to companies committing more than $200 billion to U.S. manufacturing. Our investments in semiconductor and clean tech investments are nearly double what they were in 2021, and nearly 20 times the total in 2019.

The result is less reliance on vulnerable supply chains overseas and onshoring of well-paying jobs – just another way that Democrats are growing the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

Meanwhile, Republicans are over 100 days into the Congress, and the American people can see that their priorities include shielding tax cheats from accountability, proposing a 30-percent tax increase on everything Americans buy, and threatening to drag the country into an unnecessary economic crisis that would decimate Social Security and Medicare.

What we have not seen is any plan that would reinvest in American workers and families. If they were serious about these goals, they would support the Inflation Reduction Act’s work to onshore critical supply chains and revitalize communities.

But instead, we get hearings like this one, which use “China” as a way to distract from their own policy failures. This reckless behavior has consequences. As we have seen since the pandemic, this rhetoric contributes to dangerous anti-Asian hate that hurts Asian Americans here in the United States. And it is dishonest, because the truth is that the Inflation Reduction Act is one of the most impactful laws in our nation’s history to reduce our reliance on China and other foreign markets and move jobs and supply chains back here to the United States.

In the last 100 days, notwithstanding all of their “America-first” rhetoric, one of the most consistent themes of our Committee’s majority has been to put foreign interests ahead of the American people.

Last month, we marked up a bill in this Committee that would put the interests of foreign bondholders – including Chinese bondholders – ahead of Veterans, Seniors in Medicaid nursing homes, Pell Grant recipients, and every American awaiting a tax refund.

And this is a pattern: the Republican Tax Scam gave more benefit to foreign investors than the bottom 60 percent of Americans. We didn’t hear any “America first” concerns then.

I am disappointed that we are once again spending valuable time on political posturing against our clear successes instead of working together to create American jobs, shore up our domestic supply chains, or catapult our nation to leading in the new green energy economy.

It’s a waste of our time, it’s a waste of the American people’s time, and it’s all in service of extending another round of handouts to the wealthy and well-connected.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Original source can be found here.