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The U.S. Department of Treasury recently posted guidance that would arbitrarily expand the 30C EV charger tax credit to include some of the wealthiest areas in the United States. This guidance ignores the law and hijacks a credit meant for low-income neighborhoods to subsidize places like Martha’s Vineyard and Beverly Hills.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and colleagues sent a letter to General Accountability Office Comptroller Gene Dodaro to determine if the Biden Administration’s guidance is eligible under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

• “On January 19, 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) posted guidance that describes which neighborhoods are eligible for the Inflation Reduction Act’s “30C” tax credit … The Treasury guidance prescribes detailed policy. For these reasons, we respectfully request a determination as to whether this “rule” is applicable under the CRA.” 

Rubio was joined by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Mike Braun (R-IN).

The full text of the letter is below. 

Dear Comptroller General Dodaro:

On January 19, 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) posted guidance that describes which neighborhoods are eligible for the Inflation Reduction Act’s “30C” tax credit. We write to seek your review of whether the January 2024 Treasury guidance, titled “Guidance on Satisfying the Geographical Requirements of the Section 30C Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit,” constitutes a “rule” for purposes of the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

With limited exceptions, the CRA defines a “rule” as follows: 

‘[R]ule’ means the whole or part of an agency statement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy or describing the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of an agency and includes the approval or prescription for the future of rates, wages, corporate or financial structures or reorganizations thereof, prices, facilities, appliances, services or allowances therefor or of valuations, costs, or accounting, or practices bearing on any of the foregoing.” 

Based upon this broad definition, the Government Accountability Office has rightly pointed out that “agency pronouncements may be rules within the definition of 5 U.S.C. § 551 and the CRA, even if they are not subject to notice and comment rulemaking requirements under section 553.” 

The Treasury guidance prescribes detailed policy. For these reasons, we respectfully request a determination as to whether this “rule” is applicable under the CRA. 

Sincerely,