The House passed a bipartisan bill to strike down Bidens pro-China solar panel tariffs.
This is something that the White House seemingly wanted to pass through without rebuke, but the House Republicans had other plans. In a vote of 221-202 in the House, 209 Republicans and 12 Democrats voted in favor of striking out against the idea of the solar panel bill tariffs that the Biden White House wanted to implement.
Joe Bidens decision to protect Communist Chinas solar manufacturers from U.S. tariffs is another demonstration of weakness from an already spineless administration, said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., He continued by saying: House Republicans are continuing to lead where the White House has failed in holding China accountable by working across the aisle to nullify this absurd rule.
The House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., requested a roll call vote to measure the measures support level and to have it down on the official record. Chairman Smith has been a big supporter of the legislation. Twelve members opted not to vote at all on the bill.
The Biden White House enforced a rule in June 2022 that put a 24-month moratorium on implementing solar panel anti-circumvention tariffs introduced during the Obama Administration to protect U.S. companies. However, House Republicans would like to have those protections for U.S. companies and to keep Chinese businesses at a disadvantage if they want to do business here.
The Commerce Department had already said months earlier that it would investigate if Chinese manufacturers were routing solar panels through Southeast Asia to avoid some of the tariffs put on those products by the United States. The Department released a preliminary report in December that found that Chinese companies were rerouting solar panel products through Cambodia, Vietnam, and other countries to avoid the tariffs and other restrictions placed directly on Chinese companies. They are taking every measure possible to ensure this is cracked down on and that Chinese companies are not allowed to skirt the rules and get around what they should do.
The agency will publish its final reports in May if it can remain on schedule with everything it has been trying to do. Despite all of this, Fox News reports that the Biden Administration states that they veto the legislation passed by the House if it makes it to his desk. Democrat leadership declined to give its members an indication about how they should vote on the bill.
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