Wyden in September. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden sees the transmission tax credit as the big climate policy left on the IRA cutting room floor.
Why it matters: Wyden is doubling down on creating a transmission credit as advocates for new wiring projects push for adding the idea to a nascent bicameral tax deal.
Driving the news: When Axios asked Wyden about the transmission credit push, he said: "I wanted to do more in this [deal], but it was a challenge on the other side."
- Wyden said the credit was the "big one" he didn't get in the IRA. "If you want to know, am I for a transmission expansion? Absolutely."
- The senator declined to divulge whether House Ways and Means chair Jason Smith was the reason that transmission wasn't in the deal, simply adding the Republican has "been very constructive."
- Smith's office didn't respond to a request for comment.
Between the lines: Wyden's insistence on getting this credit — and Republicans' hemming and hawing over transmission — reveals how the coming election will likely decide whether the credit becomes law anytime soon.
