Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) that passed the House of Representatives last month contained numerous wins for the American people: permanent tax relief, funding for border security, an expansion of Health Savings Accounts, and even a new program to expand school choice. But arguably the most impactful accomplishment in the BBB was their success in taking a machete to the labyrinth of green new scam tax subsidies created by Joe Biden and the Democrats through the inflation-creating Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). That alone makes it the most beautiful feature of the Big Beautiful Bill.
The House’s version included key provisions sunsetting some of the worst subsidies authorized under the IRA, including:
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- Ending the Clean Electricity Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for any project that doesn’t start within 60 days of the enacting legislation and isn’t in service by 2028;
- Ending the Clean Electricity Investment Credit and Transferability of Tax Credits for Wind and Solar;
- Eliminating the Tax Credit for Residential Solar and Rebates for “Green” Products;
- Repealing the Electric Vehicle Credit designed to Force Manufacturers to Abandon Gas Powered Vehicles.
The rollback of these subsidies in the House BBB was a monumental feat, especially given the army of lobbyists hired by the green energy grifters to defend these subsidies on Capitol Hill. In fact, the big spenders in the GOP caucus almost succeeded in stopping the subsidy rollback. If not for the stalwart efforts of the House Freedom Caucus and the White House stepping in at the last minute of negotiations, the green scam subsidies would not be on the chopping block.
But now the bill is in the Senate, and the initial draft released of the revised Big Beautiful Bill by Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo is anything but big or beautiful. As detailed by energy expert Alex Epstein, almost every IRA subsidy that was rolled back in the House is revived in the Senate version of the legislation.
The green energy lobby must be giddy. The Senate version reinstates subsidies for green energy suppliers, reopens loopholes such as the transferability of tax credits, and most importantly it eliminates the hard “placed in service” 2028 deadline for new projects, replacing it with a toothless “construction begins” deadline. Taken altogether, these changes would guarantee that these subsidies would continue long after Trump’s term ends in 2028. Which means all of these subsidies will be renewed at some point, and America will be stuck with Biden’s green new scam for decades to come.
The Senate’s resurrection of the Biden green subsidies in the BBB didn’t escape the attention of President Trump. “They are largely a giant SCAM. I would much prefer that this money be used somewhere else, including reductions. ‘Anywhere’ would be preferable!…None of it works without massive government subsidy (energy should NOT NEED SUBSIDY!).” As usual, Trump knows a Washington, D.C., grift when he sees it.
Additionally, Trump is correct that America’s energy development, production, and generation should never require subsidies. Yet over the last decade, wind and solar have consumed hundreds of billions in R&D refundable credits, loan guarantees, grants, and other subsidies. Just in the Inflation Reduction Act alone, $96.7 billion was earmarked for “clean” energy grants, mostly directed at solar and wind.
These IRA subsidies are why every major public utility in Arizona and across the country is adopting grid crushing resource plans that rely solely on wind, solar, and battery storage for new generation capacity. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said it best earlier this month while testifying to the House subcommittee on energy, “If you’re not there at peak demand, you’re just a parasite on the grid, because you just make the other sources turn up and down as you come and go.” Solar and wind alone can’t carry our grid, yet these subsidies drive out the very sources that solar and wind require to operate. One needs to look no further than Spain to see what happens when you try to power your economy on intermittent sources of energy.
America cannot afford to have our grid ruined because Republicans in Congress can’t say no to the green grift lobby. The current subsidies not only represent hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, but they are dangerous to the reliability of our nation’s grid. And anyone who cares about that should reach out to their representative to restore the big, beautiful end to green scam subsidies.
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