June 04, 2024

Manchin Questions Treasury Secretary On Inflation Reduction Act Implementation, Back To Work Act

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV), member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned Janet Yellen, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Senator Manchin questioned Secretary Yellen on implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) electric vehicle (EV) and hydrogen tax credits according to the law and his bipartisan Back to Work Act.

On implementing the IRA’s EV tax credits according to the law:

“My Committee wrote the bill to bring back manufacturing to America so that we would not be dependent on unreliable supply chains, especially those of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. We know China has dominated the critical minerals industry. But your [the Administration’s] permanent rules are cutting the domestic requirements for sourcing and processing in half. It makes no sense and you’re going to get sued by the manufacturers who have invested money and thought they wouldn’t be inundated with lower prices and unfair competition, especially from China,” Senator Manchin said in part.  

“We wrote the IRA as a very balanced bill to ensure energy security in our transportation modes. This is the first time in the history of the United States of America that we cannot provide all of the components for our own transportation. We’re willing to be reliant on China, which has a total lock on EVs…Why can’t we just implement the law the way it was written? You’re trying to implement a bill you never passed,” Senator Manchin continued. 

On implementing the IRA’s hydrogen tax credit according to the law and the impacts of Treasury’s guidance on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded Hydrogen Hubs:

“All of a sudden, there are these conditions to get the credits. Where did these come from? Who made them up? Every single one of the seven hubs have written to you all. It’s not commercially viable what you’re trying to do with this implementation of the hydrogen rules. Why are you not writing the rules the way the law intended?” Senator Manchin said in part.

On the bipartisan Back to Work Act:

“I want to talk about bringing federal employees back to work. Senator Romney and I have introduced a piece of legislation that would require federal employees to be in their office at work at least 60% of the time,” Senator Manchin said in part. “At the Bureau of the Fiscal Service in Parkersburg, West Virginia, people only have to be there two days a pay period…It is absolutely ridiculous and it’s destroying our economy.”

In May 2024, Senators Manchin and Romney introduced the bipartisan Back to Work Act, which would limit telework to no more than 40% of days within an employee’s pay period and require agencies to report to Congress on the productivity of its telework activities.

A video of Senator Manchin’s questioning is available here.