Take a walk down memory lane. It’s the summer of 2017, and Republicans who control both chambers of Congress are hard at work enacting President Donald Trump’s campaign promises. High atop that list is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the legislative namesake of former President Barack Obama. After fitful starts and stops, the GOP legislative effort goes down in flames, marking a significant setback not only to the new president, but also every member of Congress who pledged to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
It's hard to believe, but eight years later, Republicans are facing a similar nightmare situation via the green subsidies in former President Joe Biden’s so-called “Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)”. Like ObamaCare, the IRA was the legislative centerpiece of the previous administration’s tenure. Like ObamaCare, it carries a massive price tag, nearly $2 trillion, according to some estimates. And like ObamaCare, President Trump has vowed to rip it out by its roots.
As the old saying goes, those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them, a lesson Republican members of Congress would be wise to heed.
President Trump has left no doubt where he stands. In a Truth Social post over the weekend, he declared, "I HATE 'GREEN TAX CREDITS' IN THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL. They are largely a giant SCAM.” His FY 2026 budget sought to eliminate funding for the “Green New Scam.”
The Senate version of the budget reconciliation package, known as the Big Beautiful Bill, does not go as far as its House counterpart rolling back the green tax credits within the IRA. Some Republican senators are even trying to preserve taxpayer green giveaways.
This is the absolute wrong approach. Here are three reasons why.
First, the Trump Administration has made clear its priorities are with fossil fuels. His day one executive order called for unleashing “America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources.” To underscore the point, President Trump established a National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC). As the executive director of the NEDC, Jared Agen, recently told Politico, “The president is not focused on wind and solar.”
There is no ambiguity in any of these statements. So why would congressional Republicans do anything but follow the leader of the party?
Second, green energy is unreliable. Yes, solar panels don’t work when the sun isn’t shining, and wind turbines are ineffective when the wind isn’t blowing. But their lack of reliance goes further. Green energy also doesn’t work without being propped up by the taxpayers.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), wind and solar combined for 94 percent of the federal renewable electricity-related subsidies in FY 2022, while producing a combined 5.5 percent of primary energy. Mind you, these numbers were before the IRA became law. Hardly a worthy return on investment.
Finally, eliminating all elements of the IRA once and for all is more than a symbolic turning of the page of the failure of the Biden years. It sends the message that American dominance is back and our country is indeed “hot as a pistol,” as President Trump declared.
Energy security is national security, plain and simple. Joe Biden's war on American energy emboldened the Iranian regime. As Interior Secretary Doug Burgum noted, Biden issued 68 executive orders targeting Alaska’s sector – far tougher than he ever was toward Iran, whose oil exports increased during the Biden administration. Biden looked the other way on the sanctions issued during the first Trump administration.
After President Trump destroyed the Iranian nuclear sites this weekend, fears grew that the regime would retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of daily global production flows each day.
Access to reliable energy equals global dominance. Our country is blessed with incredible natural resources, and under President Trump, we have a leader determined to take full advantage.
Eight years on, the failure to repeal ObamaCare remains a blemish on the entire conservative movement. We’re still living with its consequences. Even supporters of the law, like socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, describe the health care system as “totally broken.”
Let’s not make the same mistake with the IRA. End Biden’s green energy giveaways now and allow American energy dominance and the will of the American voters to flourish.
Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at daniel@powerthefuture.com and follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF