ME FIRST - DEMS WARN DOE ON ANTI-UNION LAWS

House Democrats on the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition’s Climate Jobs Task Force are sending a letter this morning to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm urging her to not issue grants through the 2021 infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act for manufacturing projects located or relocated in states with right-to-work laws.

The Democrats, led by Reps. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois, Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, and Mark DeSaulnier of California, along with four others, express concern about corporations applying for grants to build in anti-union states in order to “decrease labor costs and minimize workers’ ability to collectively bargain,” which they say “undermine” the economic and labor goals of both bills.

As POLITICO has reported, most projects leveraging incentives from the IRA are occurring in Republican-led districts, particularly Southeast states with right-to-work laws.