House Republicans pushing for a second megabill packed with energy priorities face an uphill slog — made more exhausting as Congress presses up against another spending deadline for keeping the government running.
At Speaker Mike Johnson’s initiative, a working group on Capitol Hill is floating ideas for another Republican megabill that would include provisions such as expanding congressional veto power over agency rules and imposing fees on electric vehicles — provisions left on the cutting-room floor before passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July.
A package could come this fall under what’s called budget reconciliation, an arcane parliamentary process that allows for passage by a simple majority in the Senate, instead of the 60 votes required for most legislation.
The legislation that President Donald Trump signed in July phased out most federal tax incentives for renewable energy. To its proponents, “reconciliation 2.0” would complete the job.
Republican leaders told Andres Picon that there might not be much left to do on energy. And that’s in line with others in the Capitol.
“I feel like the things that we could do within the parameters of reconciliation we exhausted,” House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said of the energy provisions.
Republicans “had so many wins” in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Arrington said, that it’s unclear “if there’s any meat left on the bone with respect to more pro-energy policies.”
“I think that’s going to be interesting if it develops,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). “It’s not developing now.”
‘God, please don’t’
And off Capitol Hill, there’s little interest. “It seems to me that the appetite for anything reconciliation right now, understandably, is, ‘God, please don’t,'” said Heather Reams, president of the conservative-leaning advocacy group Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions.
It’s all happening as Congress rushes to meet a much more immediate need — passing a stopgap government funding bill before current money runs out Oct. 1. Despite anger from Democrats and grumbling from moderate Republicans over many provisions of the tax law, and a desire by some to restore the clean energy tax breaks, nobody’s making a major push to undo the rollbacks as part of this must-pass bill.
Even Democrats’ counterproposal for a stopgap bill didn’t attempt to restore the tax credits, though it had provisions that pushed back on Trump’s energy and environment moves.
Lawmakers tried to break the impasse on the stopgap bill Friday, but the Senate rejected both parties’ versions. Both chambers are out of town next week.
But the longer-term quest for a reconciliation package continues.
The Republican Study Committee, a conservative group in the House, is working toward a framework for a reconciliation proposal and could unveil it soon, after meeting with Senate staff and advocacy groups.
“We’ve passed a very successful first bill. Now, what kinds of provisions can we look forward to?” said August Pfluger (R-Texas), who chairs the study committee.
The bill, he said, offering few specifics, should continue to chip away at — or hammer away at — government policies hampering energy production.
It’s Friday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO’s Power Switch. I’m your host, Timothy Cama. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to [email protected].
Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Josh Siegel breaks down the latest proposal in Congress to reform permitting.
Burgum’s shifting stance on wind
Doug Burgum has aggressively attacked wind power as Interior secretary, but it wasn’t that way when he was North Dakota’s governor, Scott Waldman writes.
He signed a proclamation last year hailing the fact that wind provided a third of the state’s net generation in 2022, putting it “among the top six states with the largest share of electricity generated by wind.” The proclamation was part of a weeklong celebration of clean energy in the state.
And while he was a big booster of fossil fuels, Burgum in 2021 called on North Dakota to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Burgum has “long aligned with the President’s agenda to Make America Energy Dominant Again, largely through prioritizing fossil fuel-generated energy.”
Chinese, Indian refineries face sanctions
Chinese and Indian refineries, oil traders and petrochemical companies that do business with Russia could be added to a sanctions list, Gabriel Gavin, Camille Gijs, Victor Jack and Koen Verhelst reported.
“We target refineries, oil traders, petrochemical companies in third countries, including China,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The EU is also making a diplomatic overture to President Donald Trump by hitting Beijing. Two Chinese companies will see transaction bans.
Trump rethinks lithium
A bipartisan group of lawmakers says abandoning a lithium project in Nevada would harm U.S. efforts to counter China’s dominance over minerals supply, Kelsey Tamborrino, James Bikales and Josh Siegel report.
Two people who were granted anonymity to discuss non-public information said the Energy Department is reevaluating the $2.3 billion loan to the Thacker Pass lithium project, which the Biden administration closed in October.
It’s the latest move by Trump to rethink the spending from the previous administration and cast a pall over a multibillion-dollar energy project.
Reality check: More than 3,600 wells drilled in coastal Louisiana are now underwater because of erosion and rising seas, according to a New Orleans Times-Picayune investigation.
Sun tech: Electric vehicles that run partly on solar power are poised to hit the market next year.
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Democrats on the House Science Committee are seeking a formal interview with Judith Curry, one of the authors of a Department of Energy report that downplayed the severity of climate change.
A rate hike approved Thursday is expected to raise electricity rates for Southern California Edison customers by an average $16 per month.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will have a Senate-confirmed leader for the first time since early 2021.
That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
