By Rachel Cohen
nj.com
(TNS)
Several members of the House Freedom Caucus slammed a “major problem” in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on Thursday as Republican leadership hopes to advance the bill through the Senate by next week.
In an opinion column for Newsweek, the far-right band—Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD), Chip Roy (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Keith Self (R-TX), Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and Mary Miller (R-IL)—rallied against the clean energy tax credits for consumers included in the bill, which has a self-imposed deadline of heading to Trump’s desk by July 4.
The bill, which narrowly passed through the House last month, would phase out many green energy tax breaks starting in 2026. It would terminate a tax credit of up to $7,500 for qualifying households that purchase a new electric vehicle, as well as $4,000 for consumers who buy one used. Some have also encouraged the reliance on wind and solar energies.
The funding, in addition to cuts to food assistance and health care programs like Medicaid, would be used to help pay for broader tax cuts in the multitrillion-dollar package.
In the column, the caucus members argued that the Senate would preserve “too much” of what Trump previously called a “SCAM.” They argued that the bill would be “repeating the mistakes” of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, former President Joe Biden’s signature climate, health care and tax package, where the clean energy tax credits stem.
The members called the “Green New Scam” a “Trojan horse,” writing “It promised clean energy but delivered dependence—on fragile grids, on China, and on a bureaucratic elite that’s more interested in virtue signaling than producing power.”
“While Americans suffer from high utility costs and rolling blackouts, the green energy complex is thriving on our dime. And now, the Senate wants to keep this game going,” they wrote.
They said the credits represent the “very worst of Washington insider influence,” arguing that “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“The House version put an end to this production tax credit scheme for wind and solar, yet the Senate stripped that repeal language out. If the wind and solar subsidized projects don’t end during President Trump’s term of office, they won’t end at all,” they concluded.
As climate activists and energy companies continue to lobby to salvage the credits, tax incentives worth hundreds of billions of dollars could be on the chopping block—many which have overwhelmingly benefited Republican-held House districts, according to report by the Atlas Public Policy research firm.
Trump, who pushed eliminating clean-energy incentives while on the campaign trail, has joined criticism of the inclusion of the tax credits in the bill.
“I HATE “GREEN TAX CREDITS” IN THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL. They are largely a giant SCAM,” Trump posted on his platform Truth Social on Saturday.
“I would much prefer that this money be used somewhere else, including reductions,” he continued.
Meanwhile, general support for the bill among the American public has been underwater. Several nonpartisan polls released this month found that most registered voters oppose the bill, which would extend Trump’s first-term tax breaks while enacting spending cuts for Medicaid.
A Fox News poll found that 59% of registered voters oppose the bill, while 38% support it. A Quinnipiac University poll revealed that 53% of registered voters were not in favor, and 27% backed it. And a KFF poll found that 64% of adults did not have a favorable view, while 35% did.
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©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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