Trump’s proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBB) outlines the phasing out of tax credits as well as federal funding associated with the development of renewable energy technology that was part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which became law in 2022. The bill details Trump’s intentions to use these “savings” to assist in making his 2017 tax cuts permanent, while also increasing military spending and supporting his crackdown on immigration. Additionally, Trump’s administration has sought to weaken limits on greenhouse gas emissions to encourage more production of oil, gas, and coal domestically, putting real commitment behind his famous slogan, “drill, baby, drill.”
On Monday, Senate Finance Committee Republicans released their revised version of Trump’s bill, cutting federal money for renewable energy, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel, while increasing subsidies for fossil fuels. In reference to the Republican package, Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, said the bill “will cook the planet and increase prices.” The Senate’s proposal comes two weeks after the House passed its own version of Trump’s bill that would roll back clean energy incentives entirely. It could take several months for the Senate version to pass. Rhodium Group, an independent research firm, says that the proposed legislation will “raise energy costs for American households by as much as 7% in 2035, stifle energy technology innovation, increase pollution, and could put a meaningful portion of half a trillion dollars of new manufacturing, industrial, and clean electricity investments across the country at risk.”
Scientists warn that this undoing of policies in the IRA will have detrimental effects on the climate, including an increase in the Earth’s average temperature by up to 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. Last year was the first year in which the global average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. That rise is already having major consequences, and is tied to increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and major ecosystem shifts.
The Trump administration continues to push for the BBB on what they promise it will do for the economy. “President Trump was given a mandate to roll back the radical climate policies that are burning a hole through taxpayers’ wallets and jeopardizing the American dream for future generations,” said White House Spokesperson Taylor Rogers. The so-called “radical climate policies,” or tax credits established by the IRA, spurred $600 billion in novel private investments as well as created 406,000 new jobs through the development of 751 clean energy projects between 2022 and the start of 2025.
