ICYMI: The Guardian: Fossil-fuel Firms in Line for Billions in Benefits After Answering Trump’s Donation Call

Big Oil and Gas execs secured an estimated $190bn in tax breaks from Trump after donating tens of millions to his campaign 

Washington, DC – A new bombshell report from Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse shows the alarming extent of the fossil fuel industry’s influence on the Trump-Vance administration. The takeaway – Americans are facing higher gas and energy bills as Trump and his Big Oil and Gas donors pad their pockets.

The report finds that after $201 million dollars in fossil fuel money was invested to support Trump and Republicans’ elections, 26 senior officials who had previously worked in pollution industries were appointed to positions across the EPA, DOE, and Interior — a direct pipeline from industry boardrooms into the agencies meant to regulate them. 

These findings make official what Americans already feel – that Trump and the GOP have created an energy crisis that is driving up their everyday costs. By blocking cheap, homegrown clean energy and forcing Americans to increase expensive and toxic gas and coal consumption, the Trump-Vance administration is creating higher costs for families while Trump and his fossil fuel donors rake in billions of profits.

The Guardian: Fossil-fuel firms in line for billions in benefits after answering Trump’s donation call

The fossil fuel industry secured an estimated $190bn in tax breaks and subsidies over the next decade after responding to Donald Trump’s pre-election call for major campaign donations, leaving American taxpayers to shoulder higher bills and public health costs associated with pollution, according to a new report.

Released on Thursday by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, ranking member of the Senate environment and public works committee, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, the report details what the senators describe as the fossil fuel industry’s expansive influence over the Trump administration.

Pointing to Trump’s April 2024 fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, Florida where he reportedly asked industry executives for $1bn in campaign contributions, in exchange for tax breaks and deregulations, the report said: “Big oil delivered in the hundreds of millions.”

Climate Power spokesperson Alex Glass told the Guardian: “This report lays it out in black and white. The Trump administration isn’t setting energy policy; the fossil fuel industry is writing it for them. Fossil fuel money bought access, and fossil fuel executives got the keys to the agencies meant to regulate.”