Business Leaders, Labor and Energy Experts Warn: Bill Threatens Jobs, Raises Prices, and Undermines American Energy Security

Washington, D.C. — A growing number of business groups, labor unions, energy experts, and others are speaking out in force against the Senate Republican-backed Big Beautiful Bill, warning that the bill’s energy provisions would devastate U.S. clean energy progress, eliminate jobs, and drive up prices for consumers.

Opposition is mounting across the ideological and industry spectrum to the Senate’s proposed elimination of clean energy tax credits and imposition of new taxes on wind, solar, and battery projects. These measures would hit families and businesses hard amid a summer of extreme heat and record-high electricity demand.

Clean energy businesses and industry groups echoed the urgent concern, citing the damage to U.S. competitiveness and grid reliability:

• Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “That said, taxing energy production is never good policy, whether oil & gas or, in this case, renewables. Electricity demand is set to see enormous growth, & this tax will increase prices. It should be removed.”
• Matt Eggers, managing director, Prelude Ventures: “Eliminating those incentives would hobble our nascent AI industry and stall efforts at onshoring advanced manufacturing. The United States would surrender market share to nations that view energy abundance as a strategic asset, forfeit high‑quality jobs and slow the very innovation that keeps us competitive.”
• Sandhya Ganapathy, chief executive of EDP Renewables North America: “I think the sector as a whole has never faced this kind of an ambush when it comes to policy uncertainty.” She also stated that  “This puts into complete disarray billions of dollars in investments that we’ve all planned.”
• Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association: “With no warning, the Senate has proposed new language that would increase taxes on domestic energy production. In what can only be described as ‘midnight dumping,’ the Senate has proposed a punitive tax hike targeting the fastest-growing sectors of our energy industry. It is astounding that the Senate would intentionally raise prices on consumers rather than encouraging economic growth and addressing the affordability crisis facing American households.”
• Bob Keefe, Executive Director, E2: “This is how you kill an industry. And at a time when electricity prices and demand are soaring.”
• Ray Long, President, American Council on Renewable Energy: “To be clear, the Senate language effectively takes both wind and solar electric supply off the table, at a time when there is $300 billion of investments underway, and this generation is among the only source of electricity that will help to reduce costs and keep the lights on through the early 2030s.”

Labor unions are also sounding the alarm about the devastating job losses and rollback of domestic manufacturing progress:

• Sean McGarvey, President, North America’s Building Trades Unions: “[T]his stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country. Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects.”
• Jody Calemine, Director, AFL‑CIO: “These cuts will put Americans out of work, hobble innovation, reduce domestic energy production, and weaken our supply chains, making us more reliant on foreign competitors. At risk are 1.75 million construction jobs alone, over three billion construction hours, and $148 billion in annual wages and benefits for construction trades workers, not to mention jobs and wages in manufacturing and production.”
• Kenneth Cooper, President, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers: “The IBEW strongly opposes any proposal that guts infrastructure investment, especially plans like this one that sacrifice existing economic development while providing no clear benefit to working Americans. At a time when we should be investing in energy independence at home, this bill forces our economy to rely on foreign adversaries while dramatically increasing energy bills for every household and draining local communities of the jobs they rely on.”
• Brent Booker, General President, Laborers’ International Union of North America: “This legislation would eliminate good, blue-collar jobs to pay for trillions in tax breaks for the wealthy. If passed, it could jeopardize as many as 1.75 million construction jobs—equal to more than 3 billion hours of work… These are real jobs creating real opportunity for working-class people—from coast to coast, in both red and blue states, and in cities and small towns alike. These jobs pay for housing, groceries, and give life to local economies. Nobody voted to have their job taken away. Nobody voted to say ‘you can have my job so I can fund a tax cut for millionaire and billionaires.’”

Energy analysts spoke out early on Monday, warning of the impact on energy. 

• Andrew Percoco, Morgan Stanley: “The latest draft in the Senate has become more restrictive for most renewable players, moving toward a worst case outcome for solar and wind, with a few improvements for subsectors on the margin.”
• Derrick Flakoll, an analyst at BloombergNEF: “Wind and solar have gone backwards from the original Senate draft. There’s this risk for basically any project that is beginning construction.”
• Guggenheim Securities: “Should the current version of the Senate’s language be voted into law, the likely result would be a dramatic pull-in of build activity.”
• Jefferies LLC: “The net impact to the industry remains negative. Lots of utility-scale ‘losers,’ few ‘winners.’”

Climate and energy policy experts are warning that the bill goes far beyond repeal—it imposes active penalties on renewable energy:

• Doug Lewin, Texas energy analyst: “As it stands, the budget bill would worsen the energy outlook for reliability & affordability, and harm our economic competitiveness & growth. It’s the opposite of abundance or dominance; it would result in energy scarcity, inflation, and submission.”
• Seth Hanlon, Senior Fellow at NYU School of Law’s Tax Law Center: “Practically speaking, as these bills are written, there’s no way to have sufficient confidence that one is compliant because the rules are just so extensive and get at such attenuated factors that the taxpayers themselves won’t have the information they need.”
• Avery Ash, Head of Government Affairs, Securing America’s Future Energy: “Where the original Senate version was a recipe for energy stagnation, this is outright energy surrender—all but guaranteeing Chinese dominance of critical minerals, industrial supply chains, and AI development. It snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.”
• Adrian Deveny, President of Climate Vision: “It’s a kill shot. This new excise tax on wind and solar is designed to fully kill the industry.”

With the Senate expected to vote later today, critics warn that passage of the Big Beautiful Bill would amount to a deliberate sabotage of U.S. clean energy leadership, consumer affordability, and energy security—while deepening the risks of climate-fueled disasters across the country.