Incoming Democratic majorities will try to swing pendulum back on clean energy

A significant shift in energy policy is in store with Democrats retaking the majority in the next Congress.Democrats are set to try to reverse the Republican agenda of the past two years, which was to cut funding for wind and solar power while deregulating fossil fuel industries.Although there is shared interest between the parties in boosting nuclear power and geothermal, as well as reforming permitting, the Democratic majorities will bring a new set of priorities to Congress overall. The No. 1 issue: permitting reform Democrats have been broadly supportive of passing legislation to streamline the federal permitting process, making it easier to build power lines, highways, and other essential infrastructure.Many within the party view it as essential to connecting wind and solar to the grid.But Democrats have been hesitant to back bipartisan legislation because they worry that the Trump administration would not fairly implement changes to the permitting system and would continue to block renewable energy projects.Two key Senate Democrats struck a deal with Republicans in late September to introduce the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA.The bill includes several key Democratic priorities for building out clean energy projects, including making it easier to construct and upgrade transmission infrastructure, forcing data center developers to pay for the energy and transmission infrastructure needed for their operations, and providing permitting certainty for all energy projects.“I personally hope that we pass the Senate package in the lame duck,” Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee and acts as the Climate Task Force chair of the New Democrat Coalition, told the Washington Examiner.Peters said he believes that the legislation would improve affordability across the United States, aid the development of clean energy, and increase grid reliability.“I think it will resolve a lot of the issues that have been dogging us for a long time around energy,” he said.The bill is set to be put to its first vote in the Senate Nov. 9. If it passes, the House would then consider it.Not all House Democrats are in favor of moving on the bill immediately after the election and would like to pick up the issue in the next Congress, criticizing changes to environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Environmental Policy Act.Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, has repeatedly called for Democrats to wait on permitting negotiations.“It will be a priority,” Huffman told the Washington Examiner in October. “But it will be thoughtful and responsible permitting reform that includes the grid improvements and clean energy buildout, but also protects our natural environment in appropriate ways and doesn’t throw tribes and front-line communities under the bus.”Many policy experts have said that permitting reform is crucial to the success of other energy measures.Xan Fishman, executive vice president for energy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, described permitting reform as the “great enabler.”“Any other kind of good energy policy that you might want to pass — whether it’s pure energy focused or whether it’s, you know, looking at the environmental outcomes of energy — Any of those really do require … permitting to have happened first,” he said.Revisiting clean energy and electric vehicle tax credits Another top priority for Democrats in the next Congress will be reintroducing federal tax credits for clean energy resources and electric vehicles that the GOP scrapped last year.Democrats implemented massive spending on clean energy with the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which was the most significant climate-related bill in U.S. history in terms of spending on clean energy. The IRA expanded and established a broad set of tax credits for renewable energy resources, energy efficiency technologies, and carbon capture and storage projects, as well as electric vehicles.Republicans cut many of these subsidies just three years later through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill, signed into law last summer, ended incentives for wind and solar projects by the end of 2027. It also eliminated a $7,500 credit for consumers purchasing electric vehicles.Huffman told the Washington Examiner that he’d “love to see” those subsidies revisited, particularly those for electric vehicles. But he said that passing any bill reintroducing those subsidies would be an uphill battle.“I’m interested in doing whatever I can, but I also know who’s in the White House for the next two years. …I’m pretty clear-eyed about that,” Huffman said.Fishman is skeptical that reinstating the credits will gain much traction, given how politicized the subsidies had become.“Obviously a tax credit has an affordability hook,” he said. “So, I do think some will push for that, but I don’t know — I don’t know that it’ll find consensus.”Some Democrats, however, have indicated that there is more support for clean energy tax credits across the aisle than one might expect.Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) pointed out that last year, nearly two dozen Republicans signed a letter supporting keeping the subsidies in place, even though they ultimately voted in favor of cutting them.“I think there is bipartisan support for restoring the credits, particularly once Donald Trump’s power over the Republican Party diminishes,” he said, later adding that even if some Republicans in Congress won’t admit their support publicly, “they certainly talk about it privately.”Oversight of the Trump administration Even before the midterm elections, Republicans were bracing for Democratic-led investigations into the Trump administration if the majority flipped in either chamber.In September, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said the caucus was preparing a sweeping oversight agenda, focusing on possible corruption within the administration, particularly as the fossil fuel industry has benefited heavily from Trump’s second presidency.Huffman told the Washington Examiner that an “enormous amount of oversight and investigation work” has to be done under a Democratic majority, saying “there’s no avoiding it.”“Some of the most controversial corruption schemes have taken place within the jurisdiction of this committee,” he said, referring to the Natural Resources Committee.Huffman, in particular, has already begun investigating, requesting records from corporate sponsors of the Freedom 250 celebrations this year regarding donations, access to federal officials, and other benefits.Investigations led by a majority into an opposing party in power have become a norm for nearly every election cycle. In 2023, House Republicans also launched an extensive oversight campaign targeting the Biden administration after they flipped the lower chamber.Levin warned that this pendulum of policy reversals every two to four years “creates real havoc” for project developers, regardless of the industry.“Government policies become a wild card that impede investment and development,” Levin said.Supporting new technologies Democratic energy policy isn’t just about propping up wind and solar projects or accelerating the phase out of fossil fuels. For many members, it is crucial to also look toward supporting the development of advanced energy technologies that lack the capital to be commercially viable alternatives for businesses today.This includes next-generation nuclear power, nuclear waste recycling, geothermal, fusion, and even battery storage.Peters told the Washington Examiner that there is a “governmental responsibility” to boost these developing technologies, whether through research, federal funding, or subsidies.“The places where innovation is just beginning, government help is appropriate,” he said. “But for a lot of these technologies that are already out there, I think in particular renewables, just making the process less cumbersome is going to have an immediate effect.”Levin also expressed interest in pursuing policies that would boost technologies such as geothermal energy, hydropower, and nuclear power.“Anything we can do to push the envelope, reduce emissions, and deliver better ways for people to generate electricity and move goods around, move people around, build buildings, grow food, and lead the world — I’m all for it,” he said.Working across the aisle While investigating and reversing actions taken by Republicans over the last two years might help Democrats achieve some of their goals, Levin said the focus should be on advancing policies that can get 60 votes in the Senate.“Getting there is easier said than done, though,” he said.Peters shares that same sentiment, telling the Washington Examiner that unless one party has 60 senators, everything has to be bipartisan.“If you’re just gonna be talking to Democrats, you’re just gonna be giving speeches,” he said. “You’re not gonna be getting anything done. And so I’m very committed, you know, as part of doing my job, to find Republicans and Democrats who are willing to work on solutions.”That doesn’t mean voters should expect Democrats to only pursue bipartisan legislation at every turn.Policy experts still expect the party to put forward legislation meant to curb climate change.2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS, RESULTS AND ANALYSISFishman suggested these might appear more as “messaging bills,” that Democrats would not expect Trump to sign or that wouldn’t get 60 votes in the Senate.“My suspicion is that rather than being explicitly climate-focused bills, that they’re more likely to be in the affordability space, but not inconsistent with a desire for reduced emissions,” Fishman said.