After a series of fits and starts, and close votes, the House and Senate have now agreed (along partisan lines) on a budget resolution which will serve as the foundation for a potential reconciliation package. The adopted resolution sets dramatically different spending and revenue targets for the House compared to the Senate–a yawning gap that will have to be bridged at some point. House Committees receiving reconciliation instructions in the final resolution have now begun working on their specific pieces of the package.
At the core of the majority’s agenda is a plan to use the reconciliation process to extend tax cuts that disproportionately benefit corporations and the wealthy. These tax cuts, which are set to expire under current law, plus additional spending priorities, come at a steep cost, estimated at approximately $5-6 trillion. As a result, the majority is also considering slashing spending to offset a small portion of that staggeringly high cost. This short-term calculus poses a dire threat to numerous UCS priorities, from clean energy, to electric vehicles, to sustainable agriculture, to climate resilience, to reducing the threat posed by nuclear weapons.
A post from February provided a broad overview of the Congressional budget reconciliation process as it was getting underway. That post summarized UCS plans to defend current budget priorities and highlight the disastrous impacts of the House and Senate spending plans.
Here, a deeper dive into what’s at risk—and what you can do to help.
Defending Clean Energy
Over the past few years, Congress enacted milestone legislative packages to support and advance the clean energy transition, from the technologies driving it, to the workforces powering it, to the manufacturing and supply chains enabling it, to the communities benefiting from it.
As Julie McNamara writes, despite the well-documented and wide-reaching success of these policies, they are now at risk of repeal as the majority scrambles to cover the cost of their policy agenda, sacrificing proven economic winners for a vanishingly small offset. Moreover, gutting clean energy policies now will put further and immediate strain on an energy system already struggling to meet rapid growth in electricity demand, threatening skyrocketing electricity bills and surging pollution from increased reliance on heavily polluting, dangerous coal- and gas-fired power plants.
Two of these key policy interventions are tax credits and grants and loans—and both are now at risk.
Tax credits supporting the clean energy transition. A series of tax credits, identified by their section of the tax code, are helping to drive a surge of deployment in clean electricity generation (45Y/48E), investments in advanced manufacturing (45X), and individual investments in rooftop solar and cleaner and more efficient use of energy (including 25D and 25C).
Recent policies also expanded the reach of incentives through a mechanism known as transferability, and access to incentives through a mechanism known as direct, or elective, pay. The former improves the efficiency and value of claimed incentives; the latter, which broadens access to incentives for non-taxable entities such as municipalities, Tribal entities, schools, and community centers, is delivering real savings with immediate impact in communities all across the country.
Grants and loans supporting the clean energy transition. In addition to tax credits, previous Congresses enacted grant programs and expanded loan authorities intended to help build out the foundations of a forward-looking clean energy economy, such as increasing the capacity, reliability, and resilience of electricity infrastructure; reducing local air pollution in heavily burdened communities; supporting exploration of promising energy transition technologies; and lowering energy costs.
Since the start of the Trump administration, these Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy programs have come under repeated attack, including multiple attempts by the administration to freeze, and subsequently rescind or cancel, projects without any evidence that recipients have violated project terms. These attacks, now the subject of ongoing litigation, have been deeply destabilizing for implicated businesses, workforces, host communities, and the broader innovation environment.
The fight ahead: The majority in Congress is now threatening to use reconciliation as a means of repealing these tax credits and permanently rescinding these grants and loans. Repealing these proven policies and programs would send electricity prices soaring, slash promising workforce opportunities, cede US leadership in critical areas of innovation, increase climate- and health-harming pollution, restrict access to the benefits of the clean energy transition, and result in the cancellation of major investments in communities all across the country.
Defending Clean Transportation
Our outdated, fossil fuel–centered transportation system is the biggest contributor to global warming emissions and a major source of health-harming air pollution with inequitable impacts across the country. Fortunately, we’re on the cusp of a momentous transition in transportation—one that offers the opportunity to build a more sustainable, more equitable transportation system that gives everyone clean, affordable ways to get where they need to go.
One of the best ways to reduce transportation pollution is by switching to electric. Replacing gasoline with electricity greatly reduces carbon emissions from driving, even when emissions from mining, manufacturing, and generating electricity are included. Recently published UCS analysis shows that driving the average EV in the US produces carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to a hypothetical 100 mpg gasoline car.
Working with the prior Congress, the Biden Administration made significant progress in facilitating a transition to electric vehicles. A combination of consumer incentives, emissions standards, and infrastructure investments set the stage for a much cleaner transportation future – all of which could be reversed through this reconciliation process.
Tax Credits Making it Easier to Switch to Electric Vehicles: Clean Vehicle Tax Credits established under the Inflation Reduction Act make it easier for drivers to switch to electric by reducing the upfront cost of electric cars and trucks, up to $7,500 for new vehicles (30D) or $4,000 for used vehicles (25E). These tax credits can be taken at “point-of-sale” – so the price reduction happens at the time of purchase, potentially reducing the down payment required or the amount financed (or both). The tax credits include income caps and vehicle cost caps which serve to exclude luxury vehicles and target the incentives towards lower and middle-income households, and the new vehicle credit includes supply chain requirements to incentivize domestic manufacturing. In addition, the Commercial Vehicle Tax Credit (45W) assists fleets by defraying upfront costs associated with purchasing a commercial clean vehicle with a tax credit of up to $40,000 per vehicle. The transition to zero emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles will usher in massive reductions in pollution as well as billions of dollars in savings to fleets, making this a huge win-win.
Tax Credits Making it Easier to Charge Electric Vehicles – in the Locations that Need it the Most: The Alternative Fueling Infrastructure Tax Credit (30C) makes installing EV charging cheaper for both individual drivers and businesses. Individuals can offset the cost of home charging infrastructure with a tax credit of up to $1,000 per item. Businesses can offset the cost of charging infrastructure with a tax credit of up to $100,000 per item. The tax credit can support more direct current fast charging, whose speed is needed to serve drivers traveling long distances and heavy trucks that have large batteries. Notably, the tax credit is targeted to low-income and rural areas. While not a perfect proxy, this condition of the tax credit is meant to target those who need charging infrastructure support most.
Fuel Efficiency and Emissions Standards at Risk: Some in Congress have floated the idea of repealing federal fuel efficiency (CAFE) and global warming pollution standards for cars and trucks through the reconciliation bill. These standards, finalized under the last administration, represent some of the largest actions ever taken on climate change, and would directly impact people’s wallets. Eliminating the global warming pollution rules would increase fuel and maintenance costs for new vehicles by $6,000 over the life of the vehicles, and rolling back the commonsense CAFE standards would increase fuel costs by $23 billion through 2050.
New Fees Penalizing Clean Vehicle Drivers: Under the guise of “fairness,” some in Congress have proposed new annual fees of $250 for electric vehicles and $100 for hybrid vehicles to make up for the shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). However, these fees are neither fair nor productive. The proposed fees on clean vehicles are blatantly punitive – far outweighing the contributions of gas-powered vehicles to HTF while barely making a dent in shortfall. This model also ignores the way roads are funded and the taxes that EV drivers already pay for electricity usage. The notion that EV drivers are getting a free ride is just plain wrong, thanks in part to taxes and fees levied at the state and local level, where more than 80 percent of road funding comes from. In 36 states, there is even already a net tax penalty for driving an EV compared to a gasoline vehicle thanks to the combination of taxes and fees already in place.
The fight ahead: These tax credits and efficiency and emission standards have spurred increased domestic auto jobs and investments, increased the affordability of new and used electric vehicles for consumers, and charging infrastructure accessibility. We must ensure that the whole ecosystem of complementary policies remains in place to ensure the transition to clean vehicles is a win for consumers, jobs, and the environment.
Defending Sustainable Agriculture
The House and Senate Agriculture committees begin the reconciliation process with a huge gap in proposed funding cuts: the House Agriculture committee has been instructed to eliminate at least $230 billion in funding for agriculture programs, while the Senate minimum level for cuts is $1 billion. It’s not clear exactly how the two chambers will bridge this enormous divide, but the apparent plan by Republicans to cut a total of $1.5 trillion from the overall budget seems likely to increase pressure on Agriculture committee members to produce a final package of cuts that lands closer to the House number.
The fight ahead: It appears likely that most (if not all) of these budget cuts will come at the expense of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to more than 42 million low-income Americans. While 80% of the US public supports increasing benefit levels for SNAP, it currently seems this is the most likely route for the Republican-led Agriculture Committees to pursue.
While SNAP appears to be the most likely agriculture-related program to suffer significant reconciliation cuts, other programs—from conservation to agricultural research to rural development—could also be in danger of losing funds if legislators decide more money needs to be found to reach a final level to offset tax cuts for the wealthy.
Defending Against Dangerous Military Spending
The reconciliation bill would increase defense spending by $150 billion over four years, including enormous increases in spending on an already colossal program to rebuild the entire US nuclear arsenal, with money for new missiles, new submarines, new bombers, and new nuclear warheads for them to carry.
The fight ahead: In particular, $1.5 billion is allocated for an unneeded, expensive, and dangerous new land-based, nuclear-armed missile, one that is already 81% over budget and so far behind schedule that there is currently no known date when it might be built.
That money also includes $25 billion for President Trump’s “Golden Dome” version of the long-discredited missile defense scheme known during the Reagan Administration as Star Wars. Of that, up to $5.6 billion is for space-based interceptors, which are hugely destabilizing, accelerating the already growing global nuclear arms race.
Defending Climate Resilience
Across the nation, communities are struggling to cope with extreme weather and climate-fueled disasters, yet the Trump administration has attacked the agencies, staff, funding, and programs that can help build resilience and protect people and critical infrastructure. Unfortunately, the budget reconciliation process could be yet another pathway to codify these harmful actions. Some of the key things we are watching for include:
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Trump administration has cut FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, a critical program to help communities build resilience in advance of disasters. The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act had allocated $1 billion for BRIC over five years, of which only $133 million has been distributed to date. Congress should reinstate this important program and not allow the Trump administration’s illegal overreach to be enacted into law.
The administration has also recklessly fired FEMA staff and cut its budget, even as the summer Danger Season looms, and has threatened to shift an unfair burden of disaster response to states—which don’t have the resources to cope with major disasters without federal aid. The reconciliation process should not be used to cut the disaster relief fund or unfairly shift disaster response to states beyond their ability to cope. Homeland Security Secretary Noem has gone as far as to call for the complete dismantling of FEMA by October 1, which would be disastrous as my colleagues Shana Udvardy and Zoe Middleton explain. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle understand the crucial importance of FEMA for their constituents and should push back strongly against any such extreme notion.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA has come under relentless attacks from the Trump administration, with reckless mass firings, budget cuts, threats to critical data monitoring, modeling, research capabilities, and more. Now, a leaked Trump budget memo described in news reports indicates that NOAA will face further drastic cuts in staffing and budgets soon, including potentially getting rid of the entire Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) division.
As my colleague Rachel Cleetus says, our nation’s foremost federal scientific agency for weather forecasting and climate research is under a full-scale assault—and that should alarm us all. And as my colleague Marc Alessi points out, that would affect everything from hurricane forecasting to seasonal forecasts that farmers rely on. There is grave concern that the agency could be decimated if these reckless budget cuts were enacted as part of the budget reconciliation process. That’s why more than 3,300 scientists and experts have just sent an open letter to Congress and Commerce Secretray Lutnick, urging them to stop the attacks on NOAA and ensure the agency is fully funded and staffed.
The fight ahead: Simply put, drastic funding cuts will undermine NOAA and FEMA’s ability to achieve their missions. If enacted, these reckless proposals will put communities in greater danger, without the information they need to protect themselves or the resources to prepare for and recover from disasters, not to mention imposing mounting costs to our economy. Congress must not rubber stamp these costly, harmful actions through the budget reconciliation process.
Three Things You Can Do Right Now
1. You may have seen a recent Action Alert providing tools and information about how to contact Members of Congress regarding budget reconciliation. You can also take a minute to send a message to your members of Congress here and urge them to stand up for science and preserve much needed investments during the budget reconciliation process. Congress needs to hear from concerned citizens like you, so they know these issues are a priority for their constituents.
2. Some members of Congress are also hosting town halls during this crucial time. UCS recently hosted a webinar training with information on how to ask the tough but necessary questions at town halls. Check out our town hall toolkit here which contains all the information you need to know to find and prepare for a town hall where you can ask your member of Congress a question to get them on the record on issues you care about. You can make a real difference in standing up for science today.
3. Finally, please be on the lookout for further information from UCS regarding the next milestones in the budget reconciliation process and steps you can take to protect the critical funding and programs that may be at risk.