Expert available to comment on Senate vote on U.S. climate and tax bill

Tulane University climate change policy and politics expert Joshua Basseches is available to discuss the historic vote on the Inflation Reduction Act and how it will impact efforts to combat climate change. Basseches is the David and Jane Flowerree Professor in Environmental Studies and Public Policy at Tulane University School of Liberal Arts.

“The United States Senate has passed its first significant climate bill ever,” Basseches said. “While many U.S. states have been slowly chipping away at the problem of climate change for decades through regulatory policy, nothing on this scale (in terms of dollars) has ever been achieved in U.S. history. All the credible modeling suggests the passage of this bill will move us significantly toward our greenhouse gas reduction goals, as put forward by the Biden Administration.”

“Modeling, of course, requires assumptions and only time will tell whether those assumptions will be met, but no matter what happens, this is a huge accomplishment politically. Getting to this point was difficult. Savvy advocates, frustrated by decades of inaction in Washington, D.C., decided to try something brand new: a demand-side policy strategy relying on big dollars (‘carrots’ rather than ‘sticks’) to accelerate the clean energy economy with only 50 Senate votes – all that is required for a budget reconciliation bill. This strategy appears to have worked, though Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema kept us in suspense until the last possible minute, on the eve of the August recess. States will continue to play the most significant role when it comes to policy ‘sticks,’ as well as ensuring all these federal dollars are spent as intended. There could not be a more exciting time to be researching the political economy of climate change mitigation in the U.S.”

For interviews, contact Roger Dunaway at roger@tulane.edu or 504-452-2906.