Senate makes some improvements — our defense work continues
On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee released its portion of the big budget bill that’s working its way through Congress. After the House passed a version of this bill that drastically cuts America’s clean energy tax credits, we’ve been pushing hard on the Senate — and the Senate Finance Committee in particular — to do a better job protecting these important measures. So, how did this Senate committee do? Indeed, a bit better than the House! Compared to the House bill, the Senate bill has longer phaseouts for the tax credits for nuclear, geothermal, hydropower, and batteries, as well as some other positive changes. These shifts are worth acknowledging and appreciating. These shifts mean that our advocacy work to defend these tax credits is making a meaningful difference in what members of Congress are willing to support. Our engagement is leading to better outcomes for climate and clean energy than there would be if we weren’t involved. Thank you to all of our volunteers who sent emails, made calls, and published local media over the last few weeks as we pushed hard to show Senators the value of these tax credits. Now, that said — even with these improvements from the House version, the Senate version of this bill is worse for the climate and for clean energy than if the clean energy tax credits were left intact. So our defense work is not over yet. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), recently told Politico that Republicans are “not done writing the bill” and there are “all kinds of issues that are still being evaluated.” That means we have another window to continue to advocate for even better protection of the clean energy tax credits as negotiations continue. Today, we launched a new action for CCLers to email their Republican Senators with a message tailored to this moment, using data that we know makes an impact on these lawmakers. If you’re represented by at least one Republican Senator, send them a message today.
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