Media Contacts
Johanna Neumann
Senior Director, Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy, Environment America
Jon Maunder
Media Relations Specialist, The Public Interest Network
Bill also scraps energy efficiency, home weatherization, electric vehicle incentives
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 215-214 early Thursday morning to pass a budget reconciliation bill taking away tax credits for homeowners who install solar panels or energy-efficient heat pumps at the end of 2025. The bill also scraps incentives for new energy-efficient homes, home weatherization projects and the purchase of used electric vehicles this year. In 2023, 3.4 million Americans earned federal tax credits for clean energy or energy efficiency home improvements, saving more than $8 billion while contributing to cleaner air.
If this legislation passes the U.S. Senate, it will also make it harder for houses of worship, cities, school districts and businesses to “go solar,” electrify their workers’ fleets or cut energy waste in their buildings. Last month, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John Curtis (R-UT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Jerry Moran (R-KS) cautioned against repealing clean energy tax credits in a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), citing the importance of providing certainty for businesses that invested in clean energy production with the promise of existing incentives.
Wind and solar power reap significant environmental and health benefits for all Americans. The solar and wind power installed in the U.S. has cut health-threatening sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution from power plants enough to prevent an estimated 1,400 premature deaths in 2022 and cut global warming pollution by an amount of pollution greater than the state of Texas emits in a year.
In response to the House vote, Lisa Frank, executive director of Environment America, said:
“This bill means less choice and dirtier air for Americans. Why make us pay for power generated at a pollution-spewing plant hundreds of miles away when solar panels on our roofs can keep our lights on more efficiently and without filling the air with toxic emissions?
“To keep us on the path to a greener and healthier America, the Senate must reject the House cuts to clean energy incentives. The existing provisions have helped millions of Americans power their lives in ways that are good for our planet and make our air easier to breathe. Members of Congress should be cheering for clean energy tax credits and voting to extend them, rather than kneecapping them.”
