Republican Bill in Congress Threatens 300 US Factories, 300,000 American Jobs

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Last Updated on: 20th May 2025, 01:19 am

It’s been such a big part of the US Republican Party for so long that it’s hard to keep in mind how insane opposition to clean energy is. Solar and wind energy power millions of homes, and they provide hundreds of thousands of US jobs, and they don’t cause cancer, asthma, dementia, and a large variety of other health problems that coal and natural gas power plants cause. There’s real no good reason to oppose solar and wind energy. Yet, at the national level at least, Republicans have to — because fossil fuel companies pay too many of their bills and they’re not allowed to think for themselves.

Ironically, more and more, wind and solar power plants are being installed in “red states” — states where there are more Republican voters than Democratic voters. This makes it especially awkward and illogical to oppose renewable energy, and doing so can clearly hurt their states, and yet they continue to do so.

Now, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shares the following via email: “Legislation passed last week by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and advanced through the House Budget Committee could jeopardize nearly 300 American solar and storage factories and lead to the loss of 145,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar generation by 2030 — more than the annual electricity consumption of Pennsylvania.

“New analysis released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) warns that the bill, if enacted without changes, could result in nearly 300,000 current and future American jobs to be lost, including 86,000 in solar manufacturing.

“Roughly 80% of all at-risk factories, jobs, and investments in the solar manufacturing sector are in states that voted for President Trump.”

Well, that’s making America great again, isn’t it?

It’s idiotic. It’s so full of idiocy that it makes my head burn. And it’s just a repeat of what we see time and time again — people voting for Republican politicians who get into office and then cause those same voters harm. They are talented at distracting and deflecting, getting people wound up about other matters that really don’t harm them, and somehow hiding the harmful work they do. And this is how we got here. Republican politicians, especially at the national level, have learned that they can pass laws that harm their constituents, but what they can’t do is upset their rich donors in the fossil fuel industry.

Naturally, SEIA is much more diplomatic about it all. “There is still time to improve this bill which, as written, represents a crisis for America’s ability to build the energy infrastructure we need to meet surging demand,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “If this proposal becomes law, nearly 300 U.S. factories—mostly in red states—could close or never open, and we simply won’t have the energy we need to power American innovation in AI and data centers.” Ah, yes, common sense. If only we weren’t in dire deficiency of that. Better luck in four years.

SEIA notes that $220 billion in investments could be lost by 2030 of this bill becomes a law. But, hey, what’s $220 billion when you’re saving gazillions of imaginary dollars by firing the federal workers who keep our air and water clean, our airplane flights safe, and weather and climate data flowing?