A megabill mystery: Republicans ax solar and wind tax that surprised senators

Tucked inside Republicans' massive domestic policy bill is an excise tax for wind and solar projects, a provision that came as a surprise not just to the renewable energy industry, but to numerous senators who are crafting the legislation.
WASHINGTON — Tucked inside the massive domestic policy bill that Senate Republicans released over the weekend was an excise tax for wind and solar projects. The provision came as a surprise not just to the renewable energy industry, but also to numerous senators crafting the legislation.
In a twist, Republican senators insist they didn't know how or why the tax was inserted into the bill they were rushing to pass. No senator took credit for — or defended — it.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the Budget Committee chairman, who released the 940-page bill, said he was unsure where that provision came from.
"It's a secret, I guess," Graham told NBC News on Monday evening. "I don't know where it came from."
Moments before the final vote Tuesday to pass the multitrillion-dollar package, Republicans released a substitute bill that axed the provision after blowback from within their ranks, capping an unusual episode of legislating on Capitol Hill.
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