IRA critics in U.S. Senate's Korea-related chairmanship

The Republican Party, which has become a majority in the U.S. Senate, has put a number of lawmakers critical of Biden's inflation reduction law in standing committees on economy and trade that could affect South Korea.

The finance committee, which covers tariffs and other taxes and trade agreements, has been chaired by Rep. Mike Crepeau and has criticized clean energy subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Mike Lee, who heads the Energy Committee, has also taken issue with the inflation-reduction law's drug cap, while Ted Cruz, chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Commission on Semiconductor Law, has opposed auto emissions regulations and methane taxes.

The Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which controls export controls and industrial subsidies to influence South Korean companies, resigned in the Republican presidential race and Rep. Tim Scott, who supported Trump, was elected chairman.

Representative Lindsey Graham, who is considered Trump's golf friend and confidant, became the chairman of the Budget Committee.

Representatives Jim Rishi and Roger Wicker, who emphasized the South Korea-U.S. alliance and insisted on redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula, chaired the standing committee on foreign affairs and security.