The U.S. Senate Must Reform IRA Green Subsidies to Unleash Energy Dominance
My latest for IWV/RealClear Energy...
America is on the cusp of a golden age of energy production. Congress can seize this opportunity during the budget reconciliation process by repealing Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) climate provisions that impede our energy policy goals. But this depends on the Senate, like the House of Representatives, acting on the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Green subsidies are costly, distort markets, and favor unreliable solar, wind energy, and electric vehicle (EV) projects. If IRA green subsidies aren’t adequately addressed, their costs could balloon to between $2.04 trillion and $4.67 trillion by 2050, and taxpayers would have little return to see for this giant investment.
An inconvenient truth is green energy subsidies have failed to spur widespread clean energy adoption, namely of electric vehicles (EV), solar, and wind, despite decades of government subsidies.
Americans are naturally skeptical about EVs due to high costs, unreliability, and questionable environmental benefits. Wealthy Americans who can already afford EVs benefit the most from tax credits. Without government support, a typical EV costs $58,000—$13,000 more than a gas-powered car. According to Consumer Reports, new EVs are 79% less reliable than gas-powered cars. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) fared worse, being 146%less reliable than gas-powered cars. EVs could even be worse for the environment–with their brakes and tires releasing 1,850 times more in toxic emissions than regular tailpipes. Despite mandates and available tax credits, only a small share of Americans currently own EVs. Just 1.4% of 292.3 million vehicles—or 4,092,200—on the road today are electric.
Similarly, the government has favored unreliable solar and wind energy at the expense of coal, natural gas, and nuclear in the name of fighting climate change. This decision is not only costly, but dangerous–especially in a time of growing electricity demand. Today, solar and wind optimally operate for just 25% and 35% of the year, respectively. Equally concerning is that solar (3.9%) and wind (10.2%) comprise a small share of our energy mix, despite being heavily subsidized. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned in its 2025 Summer Reliability Assessment report that adding more renewables, like solar, will “ introduce more complexity and energy limitations into the resource mix.” Moreover, producing more renewable energy isn’t shown to lower or replace coal, oil, and natural gas. That’s why the Senate must sync with the House to end subsidies for these mature clean energy industries.
Likewise, green subsidies - even those contained in the IRA - don’t create viable long-term jobs. The law promised to create 9 million clean energy jobs by 2032 - or one million jobs annually. As of this writing, only 400,000 new green jobs have been created—well below this projection–with most green jobs created being temporary construction positions.
Before President Trump’s second term, IRA clean energy projects had already faced major economic setbacks. In August 2024, 40% of IRA manufacturing jobs were “delayed, paused, or canceled.” Generally speaking, each IRA- tied job costs $2 to $7 million– a terrible return-on-investment (ROI) for the American taxpayer. Similarly, the IRA deceptively measures employment in job-years—or “one job for one year”— not total jobs created. This misleading figure explains why Biden’s signature climate law will create many more Solyndra’s.
The IRA can’t even deliver on its emissions reduction goals, either. A January 2023 Congressional Research Service report claimed the IRA’s green provisions would reduce emissions 30% to 43% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. Without subsidies, the same report found the U.S. was already expected to reduce emissions between 24% and 35% going by the same metric. Therefore, the IRA’s subsidies could fail to make any difference in emissions but will cost taxpayers nearly $2 trillion across the next decade. As a result, American taxpayers will feel serious economic pain for little environmental gain.
Continued reliance on green subsidies for mature clean energy industries invites distortions in energy markets, impairs the development of reliable energy projects–both traditional and renewable–and is expected to saddle American taxpayers with trillions more in debt.
The IRA failed to reduce inflation, lower energy costs, and be deficit-neutral. That’s why no elected Republican voted for it three years ago. Therefore, the Senate should dismantle costly IRA green subsidies for unreliable clean energy projects to save taxpayers at least $1 trillion and direct those monies to better priorities like tax cuts for hard-working Americans.
Originally shared on RealClearEnergy.
Great article ... that I will pass onto friends ...