Senate version of ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ aims to slash Biden-era green energy subsidies

While on the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump made no secret of his plans to reverse much of the green energy agenda pursued by the Biden administration, and he is now getting help from Congress to do just that.

As the Daily Caller reports, Senate Republicans have taken a series of swipes at solar and wind energy in their iteration of the “Big Beautiful Bill” in hopes of slashing tax credits granted during Joe Biden’s tenure in office.

Senators take aim

The efforts in the upper chamber come in the wake of similar moves in the House, where lawmakers were willing to take even more drastic measures to cut back on green energy boondoggles decried by the president.

According to the Senate’s latest version of the legislation, the deadline for wind and solar projects to seek approval for investment tax credits would be sped up to require actual energy production by 2027.

That overture came in the wake of Trump’s earlier criticism of Senate proposals, which would have delayed the end to subsidies for both solar and wind.

The new measure appeared to be an answer to a June 21 Trump social media post in which he stated, “Windmills, and the rest of this ‘JUNK,’ are the most expensive and inefficient energy in the world, is destroying the beauty of the environment, and is 10 times more costly than any other energy. It is time to break away, finally, from this craziness!!!” 

In another nod to those sentiments, the Senate’s new version of the bill proposes a new tax on solar and wind initiatives that use components sourced from foreign countries with adversarial intentions, such as China.

Divergent takes emerge within the GOP

Among those expressing enthusiasm for the more aggressive approach to cutting green energy subsidies is Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).

Lee would like to see a complete repeal of all such subsidies, though the political realities in Congress render that outcome unlikely.

Taking a contrasting view is Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who has declared as “disappointing” the Senate Finance Committee’s move to bring forward the cessation date of solar and wind subsidies to 2027.

Tillis believes that an end to green energy tax credits will bring about economic harm in his home state, and he has already declared himself a no vote on the Trump-backed bill.

Bill’s fate still in balance

Also weighing in on the Senate’s latest version of the bill is the American Energy Alliance, whose president, Tom Pyle, offered words of praise for what is currently before the chamber despite it “falling short of the House-passed bill.”

Pyle added that if supporters of the subsidies are complaining that their removal will “‘kill’ their industry, then maybe it shouldn’t exist in the first place.”

That is an expression of logic with which it is difficult to find fault, but whether it will prevail in the Senate’s final legislative calculus, only time will tell.