Republican budget bill will cost thousands of clean energy jobs, millions in investment, advocates say

The proposed Republican budget bill that eliminates several clean energy-related tax credits will cost about 100,000 Pennsylvanians their jobs, clean energy advocates said Wednesday at a rally in Pittsburgh.

“Why would Congress want to shut us down. The federal legislation has created more than 100,000 family-sustaining jobs in Pennsylvania,” said Sharon Pillar, executive director of the Pennsylvania Solar Center, a Pittsburgh-based non-profit.

The need for the clean energy tax credits should not become politicized, Pillar told more than 40 people at the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh for keeping the clean energy investment tax credits alive in the next budget.

“We need to add more energy to the grid. These are not red or blue electrons being put onto the grid,” from clean energy projects, Pillar said, referring to the political divide between red for Republicans and blue for Democrats.

The budget reconciliation bill that passed in the Republican-controlled House last month and is in the Senate for a vote, would eliminate about 20 clean energy tax credits that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 passed under President Biden. Those tax credits, which were to expire in 2032 under that legislation, included ones for solar power projects, clean vehicles, home energy and advanced energy projects, clean electricity investment and production, energy efficient commercial buildings and advanced manufacturing, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

The 30% investment tax credit for solar energy projects has helped spur solar power projects, said Joseph Morinville, president of EIS Solar of Pittsburgh. That development would not have occurred without the investment tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act, Morinville said.

“Thousands of solar power jobs will be immediately erased. My (50) Big Beautiful Families (employees) will become casualties of the Big Beautiful Bill,” Morinville said, referring to the name that Republicans have attached to the bill would result in him cutting his workforce.

The Republicans want to kill clean energy tax credits for which 158,550 Pennsylvanians claimed more than $260 million in tax credits on their 2023 tax returns for installing solar or making other energy efficiency improvements on their homes, according to data released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

That clean energy investment rose to about $277 million last year, said Janeen Zappa, executive director of the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance, a Pittsburgh-based trade association representing about 70 businesses involved in energy efficient development.

“We need more electric power, not less. These tax credits help drive investment,” Zappa said.

Leaders of the rally presented letters to the Pittsburgh offices of Pennsylvania senators John Fetterman, a Democrat, and David McCormick, a Republican, outlining the need to preserve the federal energy tax credits.

Fetterman has expressed his opposition to the Republican budget bill. A spokesperson for McCormick did not respond to a request for a comment.