Senate Republicans are going scorched earth on Biden’s green energy schemes, slashing subsidies for solar and wind in the latest version of President Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill, and sending the climate lobby into panic mode.
The Senate’s revised bill now requires solar and wind projects to be fully operational by the end of 2027 to qualify for tax credits, moving up deadlines and cutting off the gravy train that’s been flowing since Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. It also slaps a new tax on wind and solar projects using materials from China, a move that Senate Democrats decried as “economic self-sabotage” and an “outright massacre” for green energy.
Trump himself has been clear about his disgust for what he calls the “green scam,” blasting windmills as “junk” that destroy the environment and cost 10 times more than reliable energy. The president has pushed Congress to wipe out Biden’s subsidies, declaring it’s time to “break away, finally, from this craziness.”
Republican Sen. Mike Lee is among those leading the charge to end green subsidies, arguing that the renewable energy industry has become addicted to taxpayer cash. Meanwhile, moderate Republicans like Sen. Thom Tillis are sweating, warning that axing subsidies could hurt jobs in states like North Carolina.
Even Elon Musk jumped in, accusing Senate Republicans of risking “millions of jobs” and harming America’s future competitiveness by cutting the subsidies his electric vehicle and solar companies rely on. “Utterly insane and destructive,” Musk raged on X.
But conservatives aren’t backing down. Tom Pyle of the American Energy Alliance argued the meltdown from green energy supporters proves these industries can’t stand on their own. “If repealing these subsidies will ‘kill’ their industry, then maybe it shouldn’t exist in the first place,” Pyle said.
The House Freedom Caucus is demanding the Senate fully match its tougher language, which accelerates the death of green giveaways. Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman have made clear they won’t support the bill unless the Senate holds the line and guts Biden’s climate subsidies.
“This has got to go,” Norman said. “The president wants it gone, and we agree.”
The green lobby’s fury only underscores how much it depends on federal cash to keep afloat, while Trump and his allies argue it’s time to let markets, not government handouts, determine America’s energy future.
Senate Republicans are pushing to finalize the bill before Trump’s July 4 deadline, setting up a clash with Democrats and the green energy lobby over the future of energy in America. With conservatives hammering the message that Biden’s green agenda is a costly scam, the latest moves in Trump’s bill signal a clear break from the climate obsessions of the past four years, putting American taxpayers and reliable energy first.
