House fails to override Biden veto on solar panel tariff measure

By Clare Foran, CNN

(CNN) — The House on Wednesday failed to override President Joe Biden’s veto of a measure related to solar panel import tariffs. A successful veto override would have required a two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate – a high threshold that was not expected to be reached.

The resolution, which Biden vetoed in May, would restore tariffs on solar panel imports from several Southeast Asian countries by disapproving a Commerce Department rule.

The office of GOP Rep. Bill Posey of Florida, the lead sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement in April, when the measure passed the House, that the Commerce Department rule allows “Chinese solar manufacturers to circumvent US tariffs by delivering their products to the US through third-party countries, all to the detriment of American companies and workers.”

The White House statement of policy saying that Biden would veto the resolution said, “The administration is working aggressively to support domestic solar panel manufacturing,” but “these investments will take time to ramp up production.”

“The Commerce rule provides a short-term bridge to ensure there is a thriving US solar installation industry ready to purchase the solar products that will be made in these American factories once thy are operational,” it went on to say.

In the Senate, nine Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the resolution to overturn the rule.

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said at the time that he “cannot fathom” why the administration or Congress would agree to waive the tariffs.

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CNN’s Ted Barrett and Donald Judd contributed to this report.