Missing From the Climate-Energy Legislation: Bikes!

Missing from the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, the significant climate legislation which passed the Senate on a 51-50 party-line vote on Sunday with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, is any mention of bikes.

2 minute read

August 9, 2022, 12:00 PM PDT

By Irvin Dawid


“The $369 billion climate package unveiled by Democrats last week is chock-full of subsidies for technologies meant to rein in planet-warming pollution,” writes Dino Grandoni, who covers energy and environmental policy for The Washington Post, on Aug. 2.  The bill passed the Senate in a marathon vote over the weekend and now goes to the House.

But there’s one popular, emissions-free machine conspicuously absent from what could be the nation’s most significant piece of climate legislation yet: the bicycle.

The omission was not an oversight. It was deliberate.

“Provisions designed to supercharge the sale and use of traditional bikes and the battery-powered variety were dropped from the climate deal reached by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), the Senate’s most conservative Democrat. 

Dropped from the deal is a tax credit worth up to $900 to help cyclists purchase electric bikes. Also gone is a pretax benefit for commuters to help cover the cost of biking to work. Versions of both benefits were included in the roughly $2 trillion spending package that passed the House last year. [See Build Back Better].”

The tax credit for bike commutersrepealed by Republicans in 2017 in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the benefit would have been similar to the tax savings offered to commuters who pay for transit or parking.

“I’m surprised that that didn’t make it in, because it just seems so common-sense,” said Caron Whitaker, the deputy executive director of the League of American Bicyclists, a cycling advocacy group.

David Zipper, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government where he examines the interplay between urban policy and new mobility technologies, told Alex Daugherty of POLITICO (in a  July 28 piece included in the Debate, Criticism, Commentary section in the featured post on the legislation):

“We need people not just to shift from gasoline cars to electric cars. We need people to shift from cars, period. We can do that. But there’s nothing in this bill that makes that process easier or faster or more likely to happen.”

Hat tip to The Washington Post's Energy and Environment newsletter, Aug. 4.

Related posts:

Tuesday, August 2, 2022 in The Washington Post

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight