White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suggested on Monday that President Biden will fix a few glitches in the Inflation Reduction Act to assuade European concerns without going to Congress.
The comments came after a reporter asked whether President Biden planned to issue executive orders to tweak the IRA in response to criticism of the legislation from French officials over the weekend.
Jean-Pierre said that the Biden administration was working on a substantive consultation with Europe to fix glitches and address their concerns, reiterating comments she made last week.
We don't have plans to go back to Congress on that. Jean-Pierre said that when it comes to Europe's concerns, we're going to have conversations with our European allies.
Foreign officials accuse the IRA of being a protectionist. French President Emmanuel Macron, who dined with Biden during a state visit last week, complained that subsidies meant to incentivize semiconductor production for electric vehicles have put European leaders at an unfair disadvantage.
Biden acknowledged the $368 billion spending and tax law may have glitches but defended what the White House views as a signature achievement of his administration, as he spoke at a joint press conference with Macron.
The United States makes no apology and I make no apology, since I wrote it, for the legislation you're talking about. Biden responded to a reporter's question about the complaints.
There are occasions when you write a huge piece of legislation, and that has almost $368 billion for the largest investment in climate change in history, and there are going to be glitches in it.