Letter to Sander Levin, Chairman Committee on Ways and Means - Renewable Energy Tax Legislation

Letter

Dear Chairman Levin and Ranking Member Camp:

We write today as members of the Congressional Steel Caucus to urge you to include provisions in renewable energy tax legislation to ensure the full utilization of American components, including iron, steel, and manufactured goods.

There is a vast potential for American manufacturing to revitalize our economy through renewable energy tax credits. For example, there are 204 tons of steel in a single wind turbine, and tax incentives for wind energy can immediately start up our idling American steel factories.

Recently, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it was announced that certain renewable energy tax credits allowed American companies to use tax credits to import manufactured goods. Specifically, an American company stated that it would form a joint venture with a Chinese company to build a 36,000 acre wind farm in Texas. That project would have utilized -- and still could -- Chinese wind turbines, creating over 2,000 jobs in China.

In response to public and Congressional outrage, the Chinese company has announced its intent to build a production facility in the United States. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the issue of using American taxpayer funds to create Chinese jobs instead of American jobs should not even be a concern in the first place.

As you continue to draft renewable energy tax legislation, we urge you to take all efforts to ensure that the tax credits create American jobs and put American manufacturing back to work.

Sincerely,

Rep. PETE VISCLOSKY

Chairman, Congressional Steel Caucus

Rep. TIM MURPHY

Vice Chairman, Congressional Steel Caucus

Rep. JASON ALTMIRE

Rep. MICHAEL ARCURI

Rep. ROB BISHOP

Rep. JOHN BOCCIERI

Rep. JO BONNER

Rep. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO

Rep. CHRISTOPHER CARNEY

Rep. KATHLEEN DAHLKEMPER

Rep. ROSA DELAURO

Rep. JOE DONNELLY

Rep. MICHAEL DOYLE

Rep. BOB FILNER

Rep. GENE GREEN

Rep. DEBORAH HALVORSON

Rep. BARON HILL

Rep. TIM HOLDEN

Rep. JESSE JACKSON, JR.

Rep. MARCY KAPTUR

Rep. CAROLYN KILPATRICK

Rep. LARRY KISSELL

Rep. DANIEL LIPINSKI

Rep. DAVID LOEBSACK

Rep. STEPHEN LYNCH

Rep. THADDEUS MCCOTTER

Rep. ALAN MOLLOHAN

Rep. PATRICK MURPHY

Rep. SUE WILKINS MYRICK

Rep. GRACE NAPOLITANO

Rep. JAMES OBERSTAR

Rep. NICK RAHALL

Rep. JOHN SHIMKUS

Rep. ZACHARY SPACE

Rep. BART STUPAK

Rep. BETTY SUTTON

Rep. CHARLES WILSON

Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), Vice Chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus and Congressman Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), Chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus, and 35 bipartisan members of the Caucus today sent the following letter to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin and Ranking Member Dave Camp encouraging them to ensure that renewable energy tax credit legislation utilizes American iron, steel, and manufactured goods. The letter references a Texas wind farm developer that may use economic stimulus tax credits to buy equipment made in China, cautioning against using American taxpayer funds to create Chinese jobs instead of American jobs. The signatories assert that the Buy American principle can avoid projects creating jobs in China and put Americans back to work.

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