Not a single Republican lawmaker voted for the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Since then, many of them have voted to repeal its clean energy provisions and criticized the law as a waste of taxpayer money.
According to The Post's analysis, congressional districts that favored Trump in the 2020 election received three times as much clean energy and manufacturing investments as those that leaned toward Biden.
Districts where a plurality of voters backed Trump have claimed around $165 billion of the cash so far, compared with just $54 billion in areas where Biden came in first. Of the top 10 districts that have attracted the most clean energy investments, nine are led by Republican lawmakers.
Clean energy spending has skyrocketed since the IRA became law, up 85 percent compared with the preceding two years. Some technologies - like battery manufacturing, sustainable aviation fuels and carbon capture - have surged, going from almost no investment to tens of billions of dollars. Experts say that without the new funding, it's difficult to imagine those sectors taking off.
Developers are drawn to red districts because land is plentiful and cheap, experts say.
"Most of this can just be explained by population density," said Trevor Houser, a partner at Rhodium Group. In rural areas, which are much more likely to vote Republican, ample land - at lower prices - can support giant battery manufacturing plants or large-scale wind farms.
Others point to red states' low taxes and tax incentives for developers. "It's natural that investors and project developers are wanting to go into areas where they've got a predictable business environment," said Jeremy Harrell, the CEO of ClearPath, a conservative clean energy advocacy group. States like Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio, he said, have less regulatory red tape that could slow big energy projects.
This is Just another example of why Democratic administrations always see more economic growth than Republican ones. Democrats look to the future while GOPers look longingly for a past they neither lived nor understood, but a past controlled and dominated by men, nominally white men like their leadership and donors.
Democrats could have put stipulations on the IRA spending, but they didn't because the goal is to help all Americans by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels while building the industries of tomorrow for a cleaner energy future. Consider it a success regardless of what your favorite Republican might be saying about it. Numbers don't lie, but GOPers do as easy as they breathe air.
