Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and other critics of the Trump administration’s environmental policies are renewing a push for legislation that would end energy subsidies that the critics say will “destroy the planet.”
The proposal, dubbed the End Polluter Welfare Act, is a revival of past environmental advocacy efforts from Sanders and others, but it adds in targeted responses to President Trump’s agenda-setting One Big, Beautiful Bill Act signed into law this month after passage by GOP majorities in the House and Senate.
“Donald Trump has sold out the young people of America and future generations,” Sanders, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nominations in 2016 and 2020, said in a statement Friday. “The fossil fuel industry, with the support of Trump, is more concerned about their short-term profits than the wellbeing of the planet.”
“No more polluter welfare for an industry that is making billions every year destroying the planet,” Sanders added.
The Hill reached out to the White House, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of the Interior for comment.
The latest progressive-driven proposal would cut more than $190 billion in federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry over the next decade, including $20 billion in bonuses designated for coal, oil, methane and pipeline companies through Trump’s massive tax and spending overhaul. It also would also prevent the Trump administration from opening new public lands to drilling and mining.
Other lawmakers who have signed onto the legislation include Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). It has more than 20 additional House backers.
“Fossil fuel companies have known for decades that their product harms the climate, but have made obscene profits while communities are left to clean up the mess,” Mahyar Sorour, a spokesperson for the environmental advocacy group Sierra Club, said in a statement. “Taxpayers cannot afford to write a blank check to Big Oil and Gas companies through subsidies, corporate giveaways, and sweetheart deals.”
Republicans, under Trump’s tight control, hold majorities in the House and Senate, so it’s unlikely the legislation will gain much traction ahead of the 2026 midterm election cycle. However, opponents of Trump’s shift in environmental policies argue they want to highlight potential ramifications from the administration’s efforts.
“We are done letting fossil fuel executives write the rules while our communities pay the price,” Omar said in a statement on the proposed legislation. “The End Polluter Welfare Act will finally hold polluters accountable and eliminate these harmful subsidies once and for all.”
The “big, beautiful bill” is projected to significantly ding the country’s efforts to reverse the effects of climate change and add more emissions that will exacerbate global warming.
Climate think tank C2ES found in an independent analysis that U.S. emissions will be 8 percent higher because of the new Trump law.
The most significant provisions in the Trump-driven policies repeal tax credits for green energy technologies such as wind, solar energy and electric vehicles efforts adopted in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.
