David Schweikert celebrated an Arizona solar project made possible entirely through the Inflation Reduction Act – despite voting against the Inflation Reduction Act.
The groundbreaking for the project – which Schweikert’s staff attended and he then touted on his social media – was held at American Legion Post #58 in Fountain Hills.
Representatives for American Legion Post #58 said the project was made possible thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, adding that the Act was a “gift from above.”
DCCC spokesperson Justin Chermol:
“David Schweikert has failed to deliver results for Arizonans – so, time and time again, he has resorted to touting accomplishments made possible by legislation he voted against.”
Rep. David Schweikert voted against the Inflation Reduction Act and has repeatedly criticized it as an “Orwellian-named” law that he says doesn’t reduce inflation and disproportionately benefits foreign companies.
But in June, the Arizona Republican sent his staff to a groundbreaking ceremony at American Legion Post #58 in Fountain Hills for a solar project that was made possible entirely through the IRA.
“The structure will use American-made steel and is expected to generate $400,000 of electricity in its lifetime service to future generations of veterans,” Schweikert said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The legislation, signed Aug. 16, 2022, by President Joe Biden, is the largest investment in clean energy in U.S. history, with hundreds of billions of dollars available for a variety of projects.
Schweikert voted against the act, and he voted in April for the “Limit, Save, Grow” act that would have repealed the clean-energy measures in the IRA had it become law.
The American Legion Post benefits from the 10-year extension on federal tax credits for solar embedded in the IRA, and changes in that tax credit that for the first time allow municipalities, Native American tribes and other entities that don’t have tax liability, such as the Legion, to get the same financial benefit from the solar tax credit as taxpaying entities.
Representatives of the American Legion Post told the Fountain Hills Times Independent they expect to save nearly $200,000 over the 25-year life of the solar panels. They said that without the IRA, the nonprofit couldn’t use solar to realize those savings, and that the act was a “gift from above.”
The American Legion is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization.
