House Republicans strike bigger blow against Democrats’ clean energy tax credits

Among the changes secured by hardliners, the bill would weaken the clean electricity investment and production tax credits in a way that clean energy developers say could make them largely unusable.

May 21, 2025

House Republicans escalated their effort to gut Democrats’ clean energy tax credits, releasing updated text Wednesday night of their mega-reconciliation bill that would eviscerate former President Joe Biden’s trademark climate law despite resistance from moderates within their own party.

The revised bill expected to receive a floor vote — likely Thursday — contains language pushed by hard-line conservatives speeding up the phaseout of tax credits after they protested the Ways and Means Committee’s draft that was already set to severely restrict the subsidies. The amended language was released after President Donald Trump went to Capitol Hill to warn lawmakers in his party not to vote against the bill.

Among the changes secured by hard-liners, the bill would weaken the clean electricity investment and production tax credits in a way that clean energy developers say could make them largely unusable.

Democrats designed those credits to benefit all forms of carbon-free energy sources, but conservatives argued they were mostly helping wind and solar — technologies that they say are mature and no longer need credits.

In a bid to back shovel-ready projects, the changes would require projects to "commence construction" within 60 days of the bill’s enactment to qualify for tax credits and be placed in service by the end of 2028.

But in a small win for moderates, Republicans did soften rollbacks of credits for advanced nuclear reactors, a technology favored by the Trump administration that is not ready to be deployed at large scale. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a big proponent of nuclear, phoned into a meeting with GOP lawmakers Wednesday night.

While still subject to the 2028 phaseout, nuclear developers would be able to access investment and production tax credits when they start construction on a plant — instead of when they begin delivering energy — giving them more time to earn subsidies.

“We need to have a long enough period of time where investors feel like it’s adequate or else we’re gonna just scare them all away and things won’t happen,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), who led a push among some Republicans to preserve incentives for nuclear power. “Once you get the first few built it will really allow the industry to take off.”

Existing nuclear reactors also got an extended lifeline as a production tax credit now phases out at the end of 2031, instead of at the start of 2029 under the Ways and Means’ proposal.

The text also takes further aim at provisions allowing companies to transfer tax credits to a buyer in exchange for cash — an option known as transferability. The updated draft would only allow the practice for nuclear energy, per an email summarizing the changes sent by GOP leadership.

Rollbacks to other credits — such as the tax credits for electric vehicles and restrictions on Chinese involvement in projects that companies have deemed all but unworkable — remained largely the same as the text approved by Ways and Means last week.

The text also targeted wind and solar power by limiting certain investments in leasing arrangements for those technologies.

The long-delayed release of the updated text of the reconciliation bill now sets up a dramatic confrontation on the House floor between conservatives who see the bill as their best shot to stop the tax credits from extending beyond Trump’s presidency and moderates who worry about jeopardizing planned projects in their districts.

“I don't think anyone wants to pull the rug out from people, businesses, and investors who were counting on the federal government’s fulfillment of its promise. But you also don’t want the tax credits to go beyond a point to where they can be extended into the future and in some cases beyond President Trump’s term,” said Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).

So far, only one of the moderates, Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), has not committed to voting for the bill on the House floor over concerns about the gutting of the IRA.

“These things I'm hearing could end up killing a lot of projects that have been announced all over the country,” Garbarino said Wednesday night after meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson alongside other moderates.

GOP members that back the clean energy credits are hoping that Senate Republicans will live up their pledges to ease some of the rollbacks once the full package of tax cuts, border security and energy measures moves to the upper chamber.

“Historically the Senate has always been the saucer for the teacup that cools the tea,” Newhouse said. “They’ll have their mark on it. We’ll work with them closely.”

Democrats, meanwhile, challenged House Republicans to do more to defend the clean energy credits by voting down the bill on the floor, citing projections showing that cutting the subsidies will raise energy prices and cost manufacturing jobs mostly in red states.

“It’s showtime for those Republicans who have said that they support these clean energy incentives,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee.

Public lands out: House Republican leaders also removed contentious language that would have sold small tracts of public land for development across two states.

The measure pushed by Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah involving sales in their states drew fierce opposition from Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who declared the issue a redline for him since his state is predominantly made up of public lands.

Zinke, Trump’s former Interior secretary, argued it was inappropriate to consider a policy issue like land sales in a reconciliation bill that is intended to deal with budget-related matters, and took exception to how Amodei and Maloy introduced their proposal as an amendment late into a Natural Resources Committee markup.

“The bill skipped the public process,” Zinke said. “It should have never gotten into reconciliation to begin with.”

Amodei and Maloy saw the partisan budget process as an opportunity to sell the lands to generate government revenue and build affordable housing. Amodei took exception to Zinke’s protests against sales that wouldn’t affect his state.

“We ran it knowing we were going to take some fire,” Amodei said. “It was a deal in two states that he is not affiliated with.”

Also removed from the bill were several sections that would have rescinded resource management plans issued by the Biden administration that restricted fossil fuel production and mining on some federal lands in favor of conservation.


By:  Josh Siegel, James Bikales, Kelsey Tamborrino
Source: Politico Pro