The Inflation Reduction Act was built on a lie. Repeal it all.

By Paul Teller and Jason Isaac

If the goal was reducing inflation, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act failed. If the goal was wasting billions of dollars expanding government control over energy, transportation, and industry, it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do.

And yet, some Republicans are still suggesting that parts of the law might be worth preserving. Keeping any of the IRA’s provisions intact would be a grave mistake. The IRA isn’t legislation that can be salvaged. It’s a structurally unsound bill built on corrupt priorities. It can’t be trimmed. It must be repealed in full.

Earlier this year, we signed a coalition letter warning Congress just how economically destructive the IRA’s energy agenda has been and will continue to be if left intact. The law diverts federal dollars away from affordable, reliable sources such as coal and natural gas and toward weather-dependent technologies such as wind and solar — at a time when grid reliability is already in question.

Worse still, the IRA props up supply chains dominated by the Chinese Communist Party. These subsidies funnel taxpayer dollars into industries that benefit our adversaries while weakening America’s energy independence. They enrich massive corporations at the expense of small businesses and the free market. And in the end, it’s working people who get stuck with the bill through higher energy prices while their economic security is sold off to Beijing.

The IRA’s incentives also work hand in glove with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Biden-era rules to force people into electric vehicles, whether or not they want them and whether or not they can afford them. The federal government is nudging entire industries away from consumer demand and toward bureaucratic preferences.

The consequences we are all living through, such as higher energy prices, reduced economic security, record inflation, and $36 trillion in debt, are exactly why voters refused President Joe Biden’s legislative legacy at the ballot box. On Nov. 5, the people overwhelmingly rejected everything the IRA attempted to lock into law: government micromanagement of markets, overregulation, tax hikes disguised as green virtue, and blank checks for left-wing pet projects. They chose economic freedom over bureaucratic control and fiscal sanity over reckless spending.

Now, congressional Republicans have a mandate to deliver on that message. The question is whether they will follow through with a serious repeal effort.

Some in the GOP seem tempted to cherry-pick provisions that poll well, such as certain tax credits and subsidies. But all that does is cement the law’s worst features: cronyism and centralized control over key sectors of the economy.

They would do well to remember how that approach played out in 2017 when congressional Republicans tried to fix the Affordable Care Act by taking it apart one piece at a time. The result was policy incoherence and long-term entrenchment of a law they’d campaigned to eliminate. This time, what’s at risk of being locked in is a government-directed energy regime we can’t afford.

The longer the law stays in effect, the more irreversible it becomes. The good news is that there is still time to reverse course. Since the law was passed through budget reconciliation, it can be repealed the same way.

But Republicans must be clear that there is no middle ground. If they are serious about undoing the damage the IRA has done, they must reject the idea that any part of it is worth keeping. There is no way to reform a law that was built on a bait and switch. The IRA is not a “flawed success.” It’s an expensive failure, and it’s time to repeal every word.

The Honorable Jason Isaac is the founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute. He previously served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.

Paul Teller is the executive vice president of Advancing American Freedom.

Originally Published in the Washington Examiner