In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest federal investment in American energy technology in history. Through tax credits, demonstration awards, and loans to promising companies and technologies, the law sought to establish the U.S. as a world leader in clean energy technologies. This includes building and deploying these technologies domestically while driving down costs to allow for widespread export and adoption across the globe.
Under the IRA, our nation was primed for a clean energy manufacturing and deployment boom, to deploy technologies available now and commercialize the promising technologies of the future – like enhanced geothermal or advanced nuclear. In the short two years since its passage, American companies were making significant investments, with $321 billion invested in manufacturing, clean electricity, and industrial facilities, and 2,369 new facilities opened since IRA passage. This May, it was estimated that there remained $522 billion of outstanding investment remaining to be spent on construction and installation at 2,217 announced or under-construction energy and manufacturing facilities.
But last week Congress sent the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) to the President for signature, with the bill signed into law on the 4th of July. While the final law protects some projects already or soon to be under construction, OBBBA will severely curtail America’s energy technology pipeline by rescinding or making unworkable portions of the IRA aimed at spurring domestic energy production. Per a recent analysis from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and Greenline Insights, 260 GW less clean energy will be built by 2035 under OBBBA, leading to a loss of more than 1.5 million jobs and 62% higher electricity sector emissions. Per the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance, this would lead to an average increase in U.S. residential electricity prices by nearly 7% by 2026.
The clean energy tax credits in the IRA were never meant as permanent subsidies. They were designed to provide a bridge to ensure that emerging technologies critical for both strengthening domestic supply chains and meeting surging electricity demand were developed and commercialized here in America. Once deployed at scale, these technologies can compete on their own—and we were already seeing it work. Utility-scale solar now beats natural gas on cost, per Lazard. The IRA aimed to drive down costs in a similar way for offshore wind, battery storage, enhanced geothermal, nuclear, and even fusion energy.
These weren’t radical ideas—they built on a long bipartisan tradition. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley pioneered the wind production tax credit. The solar investment tax credit passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 —including with support from then-Senator Obama—under a Republican trifecta. Just three years ago, Republicans introduced legislation to increase carbon capture credits (45Q) from $50 to $85—exactly what the IRA adopted. In 2021, Senator Mike Crapo released the Energy Sector Innovation Credit (ESIC) Act, which provided the framework for the IRA’s technology-neutral clean energy tax credits.
These are proposals that drive clean energy to the grid, help avert emissions and make industry more competitive, and that will pull innovative American technologies to market. Importantly, they are not partisan. Unfortunately, the path that led us to OBBBA has been a partisan one.
The IRA passed without a single Republican vote—and the OBBBA similarly passed without a single Democratic vote. Policies that would promote American Energy Dominance and have historically enjoyed bipartisan support are being abandoned purely because of partisanship.
But a foundation for bipartisan American energy leadership still exists. Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma has championed clean energy development in his state. Clean hydrogen still enjoys support from Republicans in energy-producing states. Both nuclear technology and enhanced geothermal attract bipartisan backing. Manufacturing competitiveness resonates across party lines.
Rebuilding a political path to robust clean energy innovation and deployment policy that reflects both expert and political consensus requires a new playbook. Neither of the coalitions that passed the IRA or the OBBBA will work for the next era of American energy policy. What’s needed now are diverse, nimble alliances based on shared economic interests—not shared climate or fossil-fuel ideology. The political environment has changed, and our strategy must change with it.
The choice is stark: We can continue to fight partisan battles around which energy path the United States should take as our global competitors pull further ahead, or we can rebuild American energy leadership on bipartisan ground. The legislative history proves it’s possible. The question is whether we have the political courage to try.
At Clean Tomorrow, we’re committed to finding that path—working to identify how to move beyond current politics to build lasting American energy leadership. The work starts now, and the future depends on getting it right.