Ceres Senior Director, Federal Policy, Zach Friedman, issued the following statement after Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate released full legislative text that includes significant cuts to clean energy and advanced manufacturing tax credits, as they rush their version of a tax bill to a floor vote through the budget reconciliation process.
“The legislation released just before midnight will effectively eliminate tax credits for clean energy, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, and advanced manufacturing. If enacted, it would raise electricity prices, eliminate good-paying industrial jobs, and undermine America’s competitiveness with China and other countries in the technologies that will define the 21st century.
“Businesses across the economy have supported and defended these incentives because they provide policy certainty that has driven investment, created jobs, and lowered prices in every corner of the country. The legislation represents a serious setback to those shared goals.
This legislation would raise taxes on the most affordable, quickest-to-build energy sources needed to meet surging demand from AI and data centers — raising energy prices for American businesses and consumers while weakening America's ability to compete with China and other countries in critical 21st century industries.
“If passed as is, the legislation would freeze investment and kill jobs across the domestic supply chain—not only in wind, solar, batteries, HVAC, and vehicle manufacturing, much of which is growing in Republican-led states, but also in steel, critical minerals, and other materials that go into energy infrastructure and vehicle manufacturing. It would harm small businesses that install cost-saving solar and efficiency products in middle-class American homes.
“It is a great disappointment to see the rejection of policy solutions that have long enjoyed bipartisan support, in large part because they are critical to meeting widely shared goals of energy dominance, job creation, lower energy prices, and global competitiveness. Ceres urges on members of the Senate, House, and Trump administration to return to the table and develop a pro-growth package that restores policy certainty and enables companies to invest in affordable, reliable, homegrown clean energy and advanced manufacturing.
“Specifically, Ceres calls for a return to the long-standing 'commence construction' eligibility standard, instead of the unworkable ‘placed in service by December 31, 2027’ requirement, which developers cannot realistically control. We also urge the Senate to eliminate retroactive and punitive FEOC restrictions, which undermine efforts to onshore jobs and strengthen domestic supply chains. In addition, we call for more reasonable phaseouts of consumer solar, efficiency, and vehicle incentives.
“A vote for this bill without these changes would be a costly unforced error — leading to less energy, higher prices, fewer jobs, and weakened competitiveness with China and other countries on energy, AI, and 21st century manufacturing.”
Ceres has long worked with businesses and investors across the economy in support of the tax credits and other federal clean energy programs, with an active advocacy role in this year’s budget reconciliation negotiations. In March, 80 leading businesses and investors joined Ceres’ flagship advocacy event LEAD on a Clean Economy 2025, including Carrier, Danone, DHL, dsm-firmenich, Ecolab, Ford Motor Co., Heirloom Carbon, HASI, Holcim, IKEA US, Lucid, Lutron, Michelin, Schneider Electric, and Siemens. They took to Capitol Hill to showcase the economic, energy, and geopolitical benefits of the tax credits in more than 100 meetings, primarily with GOP lawmakers and the White House. Companies returned to Capitol Hill for follow-up meetings with House offices in April and May, with a series of Trump administration and Senate GOP meetings in June.
Clean energy tax credits have a long history of bipartisan support. Since they were extended and expanded by Congress in 2022, the private sector has capitalized on the long-term policy certainty by investing more than $420 billion into about 750 clean energy projects in the U.S., creating more than 400,000 jobs. Most of the benefits – including new factories, jobs, restored domestic supply chains, and affordable domestically produced electricity – are accruing in states and districts represented by Republicans in Congress.
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About Ceres
Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and resilient economy. With data-driven research and expert analysis, we inspire investors and companies to act on the world's sustainability challenges and advocate for market and policy solutions. Together, our efforts transform industries, unlock new business opportunities, and foster innovation and job growth – proving that sustainability is the bottom line. For more information, visit ceres.org.