00:05The presiding officer is a distinguished businessman.
00:11He understands capital flows.
00:13He understands investment.
00:15There are a lot of people in this chamber and across the country
00:19who on a non-ideological basis want a consistent tax code
00:26so that businesses can invest with certainty and predictability.
00:32So let's look at some of the numbers here in terms of the impact of this bill.
00:39This bill will kill 300,000 jobs in wind and solar per year.
00:46We're going to lose out on $450 billion in capital as thousands of projects go under.
00:53Because of that, we're going to generate about 500 gigawatts less energy in the next decade.
01:01Now, there was a time, and I lived through it as a politician,
01:06there was a time when people who wanted to take climate action
01:10had to argue for that climate action because it is a planetary emergency
01:14and there were trade-offs and people on the other side said,
01:17So, as we try to take action to deal with this planetary crisis,
01:22we can't create shortages.
01:24We can't increase prices.
01:26We can't impede economic progress.
01:29All that has flipped.
01:32This bill will create shortages.
01:35This bill will impede economic progress.
01:39This bill will increase prices.
01:44The 500 gigawatts less energy in the next decade is pretty much exactly the amount of energy
01:50that we're going to need to meet rising demand.
01:54We are going to have energy shortages as a result of this legislation.
02:00And you don't have to love clean energy or be an environmentalist.
02:04And I love clean energy and I'm an environmentalist.
02:07But you don't have to care about the climate.
02:09I think you should.
02:10You don't have to care about the climate to understand that this is a basic question of supply and demand.
02:16Energy demand is soaring for the first time in decades, largely, not exclusively,
02:21but largely because of AI data centers.
02:24And our best chance of meeting it in the next few years is with wind and solar, not oil and gas.
02:30Even nuclear and geothermal are going to take a while.
02:35That is not just a political talking point or a preference of mine.
02:39It's just a fact that gas turbines are stuck in a years-long backlog.
02:44It's also a fact that 80% of the new capacity on the grid last year came from solar and storage.
02:49It's growing.
02:50It's cheap.
02:51It works.
02:52And there are hundreds more projects that are in the pipeline waiting to be hooked up.
02:57So the idea that we're going to kill the only energy that can be brought online in the short run,
03:05the very same week that half the country was meeting melting in a record heat wave,
03:11which left tens of thousands without power, is beyond absurd.
03:17Let's talk about how this bill does all of this damage.
03:22Specifically, it creates an impossible deadline for projects to be operational in order to claim the clean energy tax credits.
03:29Remember, these clean energy tax credits are federal law.
03:32They're on the books.
03:33So when you have a federal statute, it is not unreasonable as an investor to say,
03:38Look, I got this tax credit.
03:39I'm going to get X percent back for my initial investment.
03:43And you do the pro forma.
03:44You do the underwriting.
03:45And you figure out that the thing pencils out.
03:47And now what they're saying is that you've got to be operational in 60 days.
03:52If anyone has even built a deck in their front yard or tried to do an extension, nothing gets built in 60 days.
04:02Certainly not a clean energy project.
04:03And it has to be placed in service.
04:05What does placed in service mean?
04:06It means not only do you have to have the thing built, you have to have a power purchase agreement through your public service commission or public utilities commission.
04:13You have to have a deal in place in the next 60 days after enactment or you get nothing.
04:20So imagine you're a company investing in a solar or battery storage project.
04:24You've already put money down.
04:26You've secured land and a power purchase agreement and you're working on permits.
04:30And when you started the project, the tax code said you could claim a credit to cover the upfront costs.
04:35Now, unless you are fully operational, you're out of luck.
04:40On average, a project takes four years to go through the full process.
04:44So even if you've already started that progress, you now have very, very little time to get it done.
04:51We are going to strand hundreds of billions of dollars in capital.
04:58And so the impact on price is going to be crazy.
05:02The impact on jobs is going to be crazy.
05:05But the impact on America as an investable proposition is the most dangerous part of this.
05:13I don't know that we've ever, through federal law, made a big subsidy, made a big bet on a certain industry, and then halfway through that process said, never mind.
05:24We didn't mean that.
05:25You're stuck.
05:26According to the Edison Electric Institute, and by the way, I can guarantee you this is the first and maybe last time I will ever, ever quote the Edison Electric Institute, that'll cost people, not companies, people, rate payers, $60 billion in this decade alone.
05:45Your electric bills are about to go up.
05:49A representative of a solar company in Hawaii put it this way.
05:53It is really unclear in the current version of the bill what the renewable energy industry even looks like if it were passed today.
06:00An owner of a solar company in Montana worried that the credits disappearing would force him to lay off half of his workers.
06:07He says, Montana is deeply red, but it's also a very practical place.
06:12And so green energy renewables became a taboo phrase somehow.
06:17The practical energy needs are undeniable so we can get past our disagreements about phraseology and we realize that electrons, watts, amps, it's all cheaper.
06:30A representative of a wind turbine company in Colorado said, I don't look at what we do as green or blue or red.
06:37An electron doesn't have a color.
06:39And that's the point.
06:40Electrons don't have color.
06:41Wanting cheap, abundant energy is not woke.
06:45Wanting a livable planet for today and for future generations is not radical.
06:51And wanting reliable power and to avoid blackouts and brownouts is not a leftist project.
06:59But even if you set all of that aside for a minute, the states that have benefited the most from these investments are Republican states.
07:06According to estimates, nearly three quarters of clean energy manufacturing facilities are located in Republican states.
07:13It means that Republicans are going to pay more for energy.
07:17It means Republicans will lose jobs in clean energy because of a Republican bill.
07:23It means Republicans are going to have more blackouts in their homes and businesses.
07:28Gutting clean energy is not somehow owning the libs.
07:33And at least some Republicans in the Senate and House understand that even if their votes have not manifested to say otherwise.
07:42Here's a letter from 21 House Republicans earlier this year.
07:47As our conference has long believed, an all-of-the-above energy approach combined with a robust advanced manufacturing sector will help support the United States position as a global energy leader.
08:00Countless American companies are utilizing sector-wide energy tax credits, many of which have enjoyed broad support in Congress to make major investments in domestic energy production and infrastructure for traditional and renewable sources alike.
08:16And it goes on, as energy demand continues to skyrocket, any modifications that inhibit our ability to deploy new energy production risks sparking an energy crisis.
08:3121 House Republicans are worried about an energy crisis imposed by the Republican Congress.
08:42It goes on, this is especially true for energy credits with direct pass-through benefit to rate payers where such repeals would increase utility bills the very next day.
08:52This is not me, progressive senator from the state of Hawaii, who has made a career out of fighting climate change.
09:04This is 21 House Republicans saying, like, we're going to create a crisis here.
09:08Maybe we shouldn't pass this thing.
09:10A lot of this stuff benefits us.
09:12If we're all out here talking about all of the above, why are we cutting off our nose to spite our face?
09:19Just because someone wants a talking point?
09:23Like, people are literally going to lose their jobs immediately upon enactment.
09:28America is going to become a very challenging place to make major investments in immediately upon enactment.
09:35The AI industry may move abroad immediately upon enactment.
09:41And prices will go up pretty much right away as well.
09:47A group of 175 mayors and local leaders wrote,
09:51For the first time, state and local governments, as well as essential nonprofit community organizations, such as houses of worship, hospitals and schools, can access the same clean energy tax credits as the private sector through elective pay.
10:05This has led to major projects in our communities, like solar installations for town halls, alternative fueling infrastructure and charging stations for local government fleets.
10:15After one year of direct pay implementation, over 1,200 organizations, including 500 state and local governments, are already accessing these incentives.
10:27We are excited about these projects and the benefits that they will bring to our communities.
10:32However, as local leaders, we are concerned that repealing these tax credits would create economic uncertainty in our communities, as it would prevent us from accessing those important benefits.
10:43You know, I grew up to understand Republican, look, I didn't grow up as a Republican, but I did understand Republicans were for avoiding unintended consequences.
10:57Republicans were against radical change too quickly.
11:02Republicans wanted a solid business environment that people could rely upon.
11:08This is literally none of that.
11:12This is ideology manifesting itself as energy policy.
11:17And what's going to happen is people are going to lose their jobs and pay tons more for electricity.
11:28The building trades unions called this bill, quote, the biggest job killing bill in the history of this country.
11:36And they go on.
11:38Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects.
11:46I've been here for a while.
11:48Keystone XL was a big deal to our friends in labor.
11:51I had some very tough conversations with my friends in labor about how important that project was to them and how it was in tension with some of our climate goals.
12:03But listen to what they say.
12:06It is the equivalent of terminating 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects.
12:13These guys are not me or Jeff Merkley or Eddie Markey or Sheldon Whitehouse or Martin Heinrich or Rep. Ocasio Cortez or any climate advocate.
12:24This is the building trades.
12:27And they're saying this is the biggest job killer perhaps in American history.
12:34We actually don't have to do this, you know.
12:37The impetus behind this bill was essentially border spending and preventing the Trump tax cuts from expiring.
12:47And then a bunch of stuff got added on because that's what happens.
12:52And we were there for our own version of this, our own BBB, our own Build Back Better.
12:58And everybody in your party piles on with something new.
13:01And then the thing becomes a really challenging thing to pass because everybody's got their hobby horse.
13:07And somebody's hobby horse is not just to have an all of the above energy strategy, but to go out of your way to kill clean energy.
13:22It doesn't matter that it's going to raise prices.
13:24It doesn't matter that it's going to kill jobs.
13:27People at all levels in the public and private sectors across the political spectrum are all saying the same thing.
13:35Which is, this is a bad bill for regular people, for the economy, and for the planet.
13:41One of the great things about our climate bill was that it made what was good for the planet also good for the economy.
13:48Clean energy became eminently profitable for businesses and widely accessible to consumers.
13:55And we made a choice there because some in our party didn't like the basic premise.
14:01They were attached to the idea of personal, political, economic sacrifice because the planet is in peril.
14:09And I understand that instinct. I understand that instinct.
14:14But we paved a new path and we decided, look, there's enough technology out there.
14:21There are abundant energy sources out there that we can actually solve our planetary crisis and create jobs and lower prices.
14:31And we can do it in such a way that blue states and red states, urban, rural, suburban, all benefit.
14:40Republicans are on the verge of undoing all of that even though it will hurt their constituents.
14:46And in doing so, we're virtually guaranteeing China's dominance in clean energy for decades to come.
14:52Because if you're China, you cannot believe your luck.
14:55Your biggest competitor is willingly forfeiting the fight over who controls the energy technologies of the future
15:01because Donald Trump is too busy trying to get us back to the pre-industrial age.
15:08This is the worst piece of legislation for the planet in the history of our country, and it's not even close.
15:14Republicans are effectively codifying big oil's wish list into law without exception.
15:20They are killing clean energy.
15:21They are subsidizing coal.
15:23They are dramatically expanding oil and gas leasing.
15:26They are purposely jacking up energy prices and creating shortages.
15:30And creating shortages.
15:31And for what?
15:33Partially, it's to find enough savings to shovel tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars into the pockets of individual billionaires.
15:41But even kicking more than 16 million people off of healthcare coverage, denying food to the poor, and adding almost $5 trillion to the national debt was not enough.
15:56People voted for Donald Trump for all sorts of reasons.
15:59But no one voted for higher energy bills.
16:02No one voted for more frequent blackouts and brownouts and dirtier air and water.
16:07No one, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or Independent, wants that.
16:13I want to be clear.
16:15This fight is far from over.
16:18This fight over this bill is far from over.
16:21But even if this bill passes, it will set us back.
16:24But the fight for the planet is bigger than any one bill or vote, and that includes the big climate bill that we passed in the previous administration.
16:32And as any movement that has successfully mobilized and made changes knows, progress is not linear.
16:40Progress always has setbacks and frustrations.
16:44And progress is not assured.
16:46States like Hawaii will continue to do everything that they can to protect our environment.
16:51And the rest of the world will move on without us.
16:55Because doing nothing in the face of this worsening crisis is simply not an option.
16:59But make no mistake, what Congress is doing today will cost all of us in the years and decades to come.
