希望在明年夺回华盛顿政权的民主党人正试图重振一项被共和党人和总统唐纳德·特朗普搁置的清洁能源议程。但首先他们需要决定，其中是否应包括曾经备受推崇、如今却已完全政治化的电动汽车购车补贴。
Democrats hoping to regain power in Washington next year are seeking to revive a clean energy agenda rolled over by Republicans and President Donald Trump. But first they’ll need to decide whether that includes once-vaunted — but now fully politicized — electric vehicle buyer incentives.
电动汽车税收抵免曾是民主党清洁能源议程的支柱，如今却可能成为一个政治包袱。民调显示，特朗普政府在过去几年里对该抵免政策进行了猛烈抨击，而美国公众对其的热情也有所下降，党内对于是否应恢复这项电动汽车税收抵免存在分歧。
Once a pillar of the Democratic clean energy agenda, the EV tax credits may now be a political liability. And the party is divided over whether they should revive the EV tax credits that the Trump administration has lambasted over the past few years — and that the American public has lost some of its enthusiasm for, according to polling.
参议院能源与自然资源委员会成员、参议员约翰·希肯卢珀（民主党-科罗拉多州）在谈到这些抵免政策时表示：“仅凭我们在2020年至2024年已经形成的势头，我们就取得了难以置信的进展。我们必须评估从中获得了多少势头和多少好处。”党内知情人士表示，这些抵免政策已经落下了惠及那些即便没有补贴也买得起电动汽车的美国人的名声。
“We’ve made unbelievable progress just from the momentum that we’d already created from 2020 to 2024,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), who sits on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of the credits. “We’ve got to assess how much momentum and how much benefit we got from it.”Party insiders say the credits have gained a reputation for benefiting Americans who were already able to buy an EV without the incentive.
一位参与能源问题的民主党顾问谈到电动汽车抵免时表示：“它已经变得两极分化。它在某种程度上已经成为精英、自由派、沿海地区、某种脱离实际的政策和政治的同义词……人们对直接谈论税收抵免变得更加犹豫了。”民主党在其全面的国内政策法律《通胀削减法案》中扩大了针对新电动汽车的7500美元消费者税收抵免，但共和党人在去年终结了这项抵免，而民主党领导层迄今对是否会采取行动将其恢复尚未表态。
“It’s become polarized,” said one Democratic adviser working on energy issues, granted anonymity to speak candidly on party discussions, on the EV credits. “It’s become kind of synonymous with elite, liberal, coastal, kind of out-of-touch policy and politics. …There’s been a little more hesitance to speak directly about the tax credits.”Democrats expanded a $7,500 consumer tax credit for new EVs in their sweeping domestic policy law, the Inflation Reduction Act, but Republicans ended the credit last year — and Democratic Party leaders have so far been noncommittal on whether they’ll move to renew it.
但众议院民主党人坚信，他们的党派应该寻求恢复这些抵免，这不仅是为了让消费者更能买得起电动汽车，也是为了防范中国在该行业潜在的主导地位。
But House Democrats have been adamant in their belief that their party should seek to bring the credits back not just as a means to make EVs more affordable for consumers but to also protect against China’s potential dominance in the industry.
“废除它是错误的决定，”众议员迈克·莱文（民主党-加利福尼亚州）告诉Politico。“整件事都是本届政府的巨大自我拆台，对美国汽车工业毫无益处。”共和党人在2024年重新夺回白宫和国会的控制权，竞选时承诺逆转拜登时代的许多清洁能源政策，从风能和太阳能激励措施到扩大的电动汽车税收抵免。
“Repealing it was the wrong decision,” Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) told POLITICO. “The whole thing is a giant self-own by this administration, and it does no good for the American auto industry.”Republicans regained control of the White House and Congress in 2024 campaigning with a promise to reverse many Biden-era clean energy policies, from wind and solar incentives to the expanded EV tax credits.
民主党人的回应是大声且公开地反对取消这些政策以及特朗普政府减缓风电和太阳能项目的做法。但特朗普对拜登政府提高电动汽车在美国市场占比的持续抨击，却没有引起民主党人同等程度的抵制。
Democrats responded by loudly and publicly fighting the elimination of those policies and the Trump administration’s slowing of wind and solar projects. But Trump’s consistent chastisement of the Biden administration’s push to increase the mix of EVs in the U.S. market hasn’t drawn the same level of resistance from Democrats.
自《通胀削减法案》通过以来，电动汽车本身在民主党人中的受欢迎程度有所下降：皮尤研究中心的一项调查发现，与2022年相比，表示对电动汽车感兴趣的民主党人比例下降了11个百分点。皮尤称，同期认为政府应以任何方式鼓励使用电动汽车的民主党人比例也下降了10个百分点。
EVs themselves have become less popular with Democrats since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed: a Pew Research Center survey found Democrats are 11 percentage points less likely to say they’re interested in electric cars than in 2022. The share of Democrats who said the government should encourage the use of EVs in any way also declined by 10 percentage points over that time, according to Pew.
共和党人试图让这些税收抵免更加不得人心，声称它们是对燃油汽车和美国制造业的攻击。
Republicans have sought to make the credits more unpopular by claiming they’re an attack on gas-powered cars and American manufacturing.
密歇根州共和党参议员候选人迈克·罗杰斯将矛头指向其民主党对手阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德，因为后者过去曾批评燃油汽车，罗杰斯声称这位进步派人士的政策将损害底特律一度蓬勃发展的汽车工业。
Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers has targeted his Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed for his past criticism of gas-power cars, claiming the progressive’s policies will hurt Detroit’s once-blossoming auto industry.
特朗普本人也痛斥这些税收抵免，称其为“绿色新政骗局”的一部分。普通民主党人支持恢复电动汽车激励措施，但他们的领导层尚未明确表示，如果重新控制国会，这将纳入2027年的计划。
Trump himself has lambasted the tax credits, calling them part of the “Green New Scam.”Rank-and-file Democrats have backed restoring the EV incentives, but their leadership has not explicitly said that’s part of their plans for 2027 if they regain control of Congress.
超过160名众议院民主党人正在支持由莱文和众议员肖恩·卡斯特（民主党-伊利诺伊州）提出的立法，该立法将恢复去年被砍掉的电动汽车购车补贴以及其他清洁能源税收抵免。众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯（民主党-纽约州）不是该法案的共同提案人。
More than 160 House Democrats are backing legislation from Levin and Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) that would bring back the EV buyer incentives as well as other clean energy tax credits axed last year. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is not a co-sponsor on the bill.
此外，今年早些时候，参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默（民主党-纽约州）阐述了民主党人恢复由拜登政府倡导的清洁能源税收抵免的努力，例如针对风能和太阳能的税收抵免。
Further, earlier this year, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)laid out Democratic efforts to restore the clean energy tax credits championed by the Biden administration, such as those for wind and solar.
在对选民保护联盟（League of Conservation Voters）发表的这些讲话中，舒默强调民主党人需要恢复这些税收抵免，并支持地热能、核能和聚变能。但他没有明确提及电动汽车，尽管他在2022年推动《通胀削减法案》期间曾大力倡导电动汽车税收抵免。
In those remarks to the League of Conservation Voters, Schumer emphasized the need for Democrats to bring back the credits and support geothermal, nuclear and fusion energy. But he didn’t explicitly reference EVs, despite championing the EV credits during the Inflation Reduction Act push in 2022.
舒默和杰弗里斯的办公室均未回应《政治报》关于他们各自对电动汽车税收抵免立场的多次询问。
Neither Schumer’s nor Jeffries’ offices responded to repeated inquiries from POLITICO on their respective positions on the EV tax credits.
鉴于特朗普将担任总统至2029年初，民主党人在下一届国会将电动汽车购车补贴写入法律的任何努力都将面临来自行政部门的重大障碍。
Any Democratic efforts to get EV buyer incentives into law in the next Congress would face a significant executive-sized hurdle given that Trump remains president through early 2029.
一些民主党人正在筹划，如果该党在特朗普之后的下一个政治环境中同时掌控白宫和国会参众两院，其党的能源议程应该是什么样的。
Some Democrats are plotting what their party’s energy agenda should look like in the case that the party holds the White House and both chambers of Congress in an immediate post-Trump political environment.
来自俄勒冈州的参议员罗恩·怀登是参议院财政委员会首席民主党人，他上周告诉《政治报》，在2029年民主党三权合一的情况下，“恢复风能和太阳能税收抵免并支持直接支付计划”将是一个优先事项，尽管他没有提及电动汽车税收抵免。
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on Senate Finance, told POLITICO last week that under a Democratic trifecta in 2029, “reinstating the wind and solar tax credits and bolstering the Direct Pay Program” would be a priority, though he did not mention the EV credits.
并非所有参议院民主党人都百分之百赞成恢复电动汽车补贴。参议员埃莉萨·斯洛特金（民主党-密歇根州）表示，她对“税收抵免持开放态度”，但认为民主党人需要制定一项关于能源的“综合战略”。
Not all Senate Democrats are 100% sold on bringing the EV incentives back. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said she’s “open to tax credits” but thinks that Democrats need “a comprehensive strategy” on energy.
“我想要所有的能源，”她说。“我不想要单一一种。我不想挑挑拣拣。所以我只是觉得这需要一个战略，而不仅仅是根据你们的政府在这里或那里搞一些临时举措。”民主党智库“探照灯研究所”公共事务副总裁特雷·伊斯顿表示，民主党未来的能源工作——包括在下一届国会之后的时期——把精力花在其他地方会更好。
“I want all of the energy,” she said. “I don’t want just one. I don’t want to pick and choose. So I just think it needs a strategy, not just kind of a one-off here and there based on your administration.”Democrats’ energy efforts moving forward — including beyond the next Congress — would be better spent elsewhere, said Tré Easton, vice president for public affairs at Searchlight Institute, a Democratic think tank.
伊斯顿说：“民主党联盟内部仍然有一些人在打《通胀削减法案》的上一场战役。到2029年，‘地形将会发生变化，技术将会发生变化，市场将会发生变化，民主党也需要随之转变。’”民主党温和派团体“第三条道路”提出了一项单独的提案，针对“工薪家庭和中产阶级家庭”推出7500美元的电动汽车销售终端补贴，并批评先前的激励措施允许“较富裕的家庭利用税收抵免购买豪华车”。
“There are still elements within the Democratic coalition who are still fighting the last battle of the [Inflation Reduction Act],” Easton said. By 2029, “the terrain will have shifted, the technologies will have shifted, the markets will have shifted, and Democrats need to shift as well.”A separate proposal from the Democratic centrist group Third Way pitched a $7,500 point-of-sale rebate for EVs targeted toward “working and middle-class families,” criticizing the prior incentive for allowing “wealthier households to use the credit to buy luxury vehicles.”
该集团的气候与能源高级副总裁乔什·弗里德表示，完全恢复《通胀削减法案》通过后那种形式的税收抵免并不是民主党应当采取的正确方向，尤其是当选民主要关注诸如不断上涨的公用事业账单和更高的燃料成本等日常挑战时。
Josh Freed, the group's senior vice president for climate and energy, said that a pure restoration of the credits as they existed in the post-Inflation Reduction Act environment wouldn’t be the right direction for Democrats to go, especially as voters are focused primarily on everyday challenges like rising utility bills and higher fuel costs.
弗里德说：“我们需要将吸取的教训以及2026年和2027年经济的现实，融入到我们提出的提案中。”
“We need to incorporate lessons learned and the reality of the 2026 and 2027 economies into the proposals we’re offering,” Freed said.