What is budget reconciliation?

Budget reconciliation is a process allowing lawmakers to pass budget-related legislation with a simple majority of 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the 60 votes you typically need in the Senate, which usually requires some votes from the minority party. The Democrats used this process in 2022 to pass the Inflation Reduction Act along party lines. The Republicans are in the majority now and are working among themselves to craft their own budget reconciliation bill.

Where is Congress in the budget reconciliation process?

The House and Senate have each passed their own budget resolutions, which kick off the process of budget reconciliation. The two chambers will eventually have to agree on a shared bill to pass it into law. The House budget resolution, passed on Feb. 25, has the support of President Trump. The budget resolution tells congressional committees the amount of cuts or spending they are responsible for. Committees are now beginning to work together to discuss how they might achieve those cuts. They could try to cut the clean energy tax credits as a way to save money. That’s why it’s important to send our messages now, so the committees know we want them to keep the tax credits.

What exactly are the clean energy tax credits? How does that relate to other IRA funding?

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a big package of legislation that passed Congress and was signed into law by President Biden in 2022. The IRA put America on track to reduce our carbon pollution 40% by 2030 because it included a range of climate provisions. Some of those provisions are clean energy tax credits, which are responsible for the bulk of the law’s potential emissions reductions.

We want to preserve as many IRA climate provisions and pollution cuts as possible, but according to various modeling efforts, the clean electricity tax credits are the most important. They’re responsible for almost half of the bill’s climate pollution cuts.

Some of the clean energy tax credits we’re interested in preserving include:

• 48E & 45Y – Clean electricity investment and production tax credits for clean electricity facilities
• 45X & 48C – Advanced manufacturing investment and production tax credit for domestic manufacturing of components for carbon capture, solar and wind energy, inverters, battery components, critical minerals, waste reduction, and energy efficiency
• 45Q – Tax credit for carbon dioxide capture and sequestration
• …and more!

Did President Trump already stop the Inflation Reduction Act climate measures?

The Inflation Reduction Act includes tax credits and direct investments in various climate and clean energy projects. President Trump signed an executive order pausing the disbursement of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. Legally, Congress has appropriated these funds, so President Trump should not be able to stop them permanently, and we hope to see all of those taps turning back on soon. But those direct investments are different from the clean energy tax credits we are seeking to protect. The executive order has not stopped the tax credits, and we want Congress to keep them in place.

Will my representative listen to me?

Yes! The idea that elected representatives don’t listen to their constituents is not true. In reality, congressional staffers take every call and voicemail and read every email their office receives and pass these onto their member of Congress in regular briefings. Congress works for you, and they want to know what their constituents care about. You may receive a generic email in response, but your message was still received loud and clear.