Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is warning that the House-passed budget reconciliation bill will cause energy prices to increase by 10 percent because it will “kill” clean energy programs around the country, increasing the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels.
“Donald Trump and Republicans seem ready to kill clean energy in its tracks and raise people’s energy costs in the process,” Schumer said Wednesday on the Senate floor.
He argued that the nation will likely need “10 times as much energy” as it currently consumers to power “breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.”
“The Republican plan will increase average national electricity prices by about 10 percent. The Republican plan will increase total household energy costs by $32 billion,” the New York Democrat continued. “That means American families will pay $32 billion more.”
The House bill, which Senate Republicans are now reviewing, would terminate most clean-energy tax breaks after 2025.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 21 percent of electricity generation in the United States in 2023 came from renewable energy sources.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the GOP bill would reduce energy prices by unleashing domestic oil and gas drilling.
“It will open up leases on America’s lands and waters for responsible conventional energy development. It will expand production opportunities for essential energy resources that the Biden administration tried to put on the sidelines,” Thune said.
Their claims come as the Congressional Budget Office predicted earlier Wednesday that President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would add $2.4 trillion to the nation’s deficit over roughly the next decade.
