Thousands of IBEW members whose livelihood depends on solar, wind and nuclear energy projects could find themselves suddenly out of work if President Donald Trump’s trillion-dollar tax cut bill becomes law. The IBEW is calling on all members in the U.S. to ask their senators to reverse the measure’s job-killing provisions.
“President Trump and some members of Congress want to pay for this so-called ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill by taking away the job-producing renewable energy tax credits we worked so hard to get included the Inflation Reduction Act,” International President Kenneth W. Cooper said. “These credits came with strong protections for union members’ work — our work — on wind and solar energy projects. But now, all that is in serious jeopardy.”
Government Affairs Director Dean Warsh, standing alongside members of Washington, D.C., Local 26, spoke on Capitol Hill on June 11 to urge senators to restore the clean energy credits when the bill, also known as H.R. 1, reaches them for consideration.
“Every project that is abandoned because of this bill is a good job cut short, a retirement delayed and a future held back,” Warsh said in the shadow of the Capitol alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Ed Markey and Lisa Blunt Rochester, along with representatives of the League of Conservation Voters and the Montana Renewable Energy Association.
“Defending these tax credits is how senators can protect the voters that elected them, preserve the progress that’s already underway, and demonstrate with action that their priority is the American worker,” Warsh said.
The bill, which passed the House of Representative on May 22 by one vote, aims to extend and expand a raft of tax cuts for the richest of the rich passed by Congress during Trump’s first term.
“We’re working with unions. We’re working with utilities,” said Schumer, the senior senator from New York. “We’re working with everyone we can — the big producers of the jobs — and sending the message out to our Republican colleagues: Change this bill. It’s horrible for consumers. It’s horrible for jobs.”
The non-partisan Energy Innovation think tank estimates the House measure would eliminate nearly 2 million jobs, including 850,000 in the clean-energy sector, one of the fastest growing in the efforts to meet an ever-expanding electricity demand. Other analyses indicate that, if passed, the bill also would raise energy costs for American families by almost $170 billion — as much as 15% in some states
“This is not a Democratic or Republican issue,” Schumer said. “This is an American issue.”
IBEW members are the “best of the best” when it comes to handling the rapid deployment of utility-scale solar and wind energy generation, Warsh said. “Keeping the tax credits in place is crucial if we hope to protect IBEW members’ current and future work on clean energy projects across the U.S.”
A Senate vote on the tax cut plan has not yet been scheduled. To find out how to ask your state’s senators to restore the clean energy tax credits, visit ibewgov.org to access the “GOP Tax Bill Toolkit,” then call them at 202-224-3121.
