Some Democrats say they will pursue expanded clean-energy policies to help bring down rising energy costs when they take control of Congress in January, even as President Donald Trump vows to use his veto power aggressively.
With new majorities in the House and Senate following last week’s midterm elections, Democrats will be able to shape an agenda focused on clean energy and climate change. Although those issues have traditionally been central to the party, climate policy was not a major focus of this election cycle.
Democrats can launch investigations and hearings into the Republican administration’s rollback of climate policies and cancellation of clean-energy grants. They may also seek to reverse some of those changes and restore incentives for renewable energy.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Trump’s attacks on clean energy had increased costs for taxpayers. Democrats, he said, will “work every angle to lower consumers’ energy costs, and we will demand accountability for the massive corruption wrought by Trump’s fossil-fuel donors.”
Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, said people working to develop clean energy “feel bolstered” by the election results.
Major legislative changes would require Republican backing because Democrats will not have enough votes to override presidential vetoes. Even with bipartisan support, however, cheaper energy is not guaranteed. Prices are also shaped by fuel costs, demand and the expense of maintaining the electric grid.
“The wins give Democrats more leverage over spending and more political power to advance a coherent agenda; the question is whether they’ll use that power effectively,” said Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. “The vote was for affordability and opportunity. Democrats now need to be clear about which policies deliver them.”
Trump has veto power but believes he and Democrats can find common ground
After Tuesday’s election, Trump said Democrats would send him “things that are insane” and that he would veto them, speaking broadly about potential legislation. In comments to Fox News, however, he predicted that after “a couple of months of vetoes,” he and Democrats would find opportunities to work together.
The White House said in a statement Wednesday that Trump is “committed to unleashing reliable, affordable, and secure energy sources to lower prices, strengthen our grid, and protect our national security, and is willing to work with anyone to accomplish this.”
Trump campaigned on lowering energy prices. Instead, his conflict with Iran and other policies pushed up the cost of gasoline, diesel and electricity. His administration has also canceled numerous clean-energy projects and grants while slowing the approval process for new clean-energy developments.
Trump has been especially critical of offshore wind. Developer Orsted said Thursday that Revolution Wind, a major wind farm in federal waters off Rhode Island, has begun commercial operations.
Former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., co-chair of the government relations practice at ArentFox Schiff, said a shift in Trump’s position on green energy is unlikely.
“He is likely to keep pushing his energy issues, and I think he will be forced to give some room for a new Congress to recreate a different strategy that will add clean energy,” Dorgan said in an email.
Trump favors expanding oil, natural gas and coal production, all of which contribute to climate change, arguing that greater fossil-fuel output would give the United States the lowest-cost electricity. Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s leading lobbying group, said the change in Washington’s political balance made “the affordability message unmistakable.”
Sommers said in a statement that bipartisan cooperation could reduce costs and strengthen the economy, beginning with an energy-permitting reform proposal unveiled in September. The measure would shorten the time required to begin large energy projects.
Ife Kilimanjaro, executive director of the U.S. Climate Action Network, said Democrats should oppose the proposal and use their stronger position to advance legislation that expands the clean-energy infrastructure the country needs.
Reversing Trump’s anti-climate policies
The administration has overhauled the Environmental Protection Agency as it promotes fossil fuels and rolls back pollution limits.
Tim Moore, an energy-transition analyst at Clear Street, expects Democrats to investigate the administration’s climate and environmental rollbacks in an effort to prevent some of them from taking effect. They could also seek to amend the Clean Air Act to reduce carbon pollution and oppose cuts to the EPA’s budget, he said.
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said he is cautiously hopeful that some Republicans will try to distinguish themselves from Trump and support environmental policies. Without Republican votes, however, Democrats’ most ambitious legislation will largely serve as a blueprint for their agenda in 2028, he said.
Climate policy is not necessarily at the top of the Democrats’ priority list. The party is also focused on health care access, trade tariffs and the war in Iran.
Rep. Frank Pallone, the New Jersey Democrat expected to become chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the party should emphasize health care, affordability, consumer and environmental protections, clean energy and regulation of Big Tech.
A possible stalemate on clean energy and climate policy
David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California, San Diego, expects divided government to produce a federal stalemate on much of climate and energy policy. He said bipartisan agreement could still emerge on measures such as permitting reform.
Victor expects Democratic investigations and hearings to focus on corruption and other issues that may only indirectly involve energy and climate. Like Casten, he said many Democratic bills are unlikely to become law but could define what the party would pursue if it wins the White House in 2028.
“The Democrats are going to be drafting things that the administration’s not going to like. They don’t have the votes to override a veto, and on top of it, the administration is going to be in turmoil because of its own electoral failures and because of all the investigations,” Victor said. “This seems to me, at the federal level, largely a recipe for kind of intense chaos over the next two years.”
The administration’s conduct is one of the biggest unknowns, Victor said. It could use executive authority to intensify its rollback of climate and environmental regulations.
States could advance clean energy without waiting for Congress
Democrats won gubernatorial races in states that have long been controlled by Republicans, including Texas and Georgia.
Leah Stokes, a political scientist at UC Santa Barbara, said those victories could lead to significant state-level climate action next year. Climate leadership has traditionally emerged from the states, she noted. At the federal level, Stokes is optimistic that clean-energy tax credits could be extended because some Republicans support them.
Jay Inslee, a former Democratic governor and congressman from Washington, also expects clean-energy momentum to grow in states that elected Democratic governors, especially where Democrats also won control of state legislatures.
“This is a really powerful instrument for the United States to join the rest of the world and get back in a leadership position, even if we still have a climate denier that might exercise a veto on some things that we want to do federally,” Inslee said. “So I hope people will pay attention to the big progress we’re going to make on a state-level basis.”
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Associated Press writers Alexa St. John and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
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