Trump's cuts spur a scramble for expiring energy credits
The law could also make it harder for homeowners and businesses to reduce their own power use to avoid potential bill increases.
The cuts are spurring anxiety in communities that were already looking at big jumps in their electricity costs — including the presidential swing state of Arizona.
Kilowatts vs. food Take Shirley Ross, who spoke to me for a story focused on the megalaw's potential cost effects in the sun-baked desert state. When she and her husband moved to an unincorporated community in the state's southeast, they saw an ad for a nonprofit promising to reduce their power bills.
The group gave them direct financial support and funded efficiency upgrades. Leaky windows were sealed, the air conditioning was replaced and a decades-old avocado green refrigerator was swapped out. Ross' electricity bills have doubled in the 15 years since they moved in, but she says they'd be much higher without that early work.
'I know we wouldn't be eating as well as we do,' she said.
President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, however, phases out tax credits to cover similar upgrades. Credits of up to $1,200 on weatherization and insulation, for example, will expire at the end of this year, as will credits of up to $150 for a home energy audit. Incentives for solar panels, home battery system and electric panels will also run out early.
Bill backers say the cuts were necessary to avoid tax increases that would have further hurt households. The White House says it's working to lower energy costs elsewhere.
Democrats jump inBlue states are making hay, however. Climate Mayors and the U.S. Climate Alliance today launched a nationwide campaign to encourage Americans to take advantage of the credits before they expire, POLITICO's Zack Colman reported.
'We have a narrow window to get the word out and help our communities benefit from these proven, popular credits which are making clean energy more affordable and accessible across the country,' Climate Mayors chair and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement.
Some states and utilities will continue to offer their own assistance to homeowners. After all, energy efficiency is a way to ease the looming power supply crunch. But advocates for low-income families say they're worried, especially when electricity prices are already rising faster than inflation.
Also of note: The federal LIHEAP utility assistance program has its own fund to weatherize homes. Trump's proposed budget would zero out LIHEAP, further scrambling the prospects for groups like the one that helped Ross.
Kelly McGown, who heads an Arizona nonprofit that distributes LIHEAP funds, said it's not the time to cut federal protections.
'We're putting families in a position where they're choosing between paying for electricity, food or housing with no backstop,' she said.
It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Jason Plautz. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to jplautz@eenews.net.
Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Alex Guillén breaks down why the Trump administration is moving to cancel the $7 billion Solar for All program.
Power Centers
International Energy Agency under fireTrump officials are looking to replace the second-in-command at the International Energy Agency, in the latest sign of the administration's frustration with the Paris-based body, Brian Dabbs and Sara Schonhardt write.
Mary Warlick, a retired State Department official, is the administration's top target, according to multiple energy industry insiders and former U.S. officials. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and some Republicans have expressed frustration with the IEA's outlook that demand for oil will peak by the end of this decade. The White House has championed the use of fossil fuels.
'The product that the IEA produces is not generally accepted by everybody. It's just not,' said Mark Menezes, who was deputy Energy secretary during Trump's first term. 'And the political context has changed.'
California dreamingThe Trump administration is making plans to terminate the Inflation Reduction Act's Solar for All program as soon as this week. In California, almost none of the $250 million that California received from the program has made it out the door yet, Noah Baustin and Camille von Kaenel report.
Solar companies fear they're on the cusp of losing their best shot at setting up a thriving community solar program that would give renters and electricity customers who can't afford to put panels on their rooftops the chance to draw from nearby midsize solar installations.
Climate's information gapIn its first six months in office, the Trump administration 'has significantly altered the federal environmental information landscape,' according to a new report issued by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, a nonprofit research group.
One example, writes Robin Bravender, citing the report, is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 2024, the United States experienced 27 weather and climate disasters that each topped $1 billion in damages, according to a NOAA website that maps costly disasters. That website won't be updated with this year's data.
The administration has moved quickly to torpedo environmental justice and climate work done by the prior administration. The day after Trump took office, the White House Council on Environmental Quality took down a screening tool aimed at funneling federal spending toward communities that faced high levels of pollution.
Outsourcing carbon goalsEuropean Union officials didn't examine the effects of a plan to pay poorer countries to cut pollution for the purpose of meeting Europe's climate targets, Karl Mathiesen and Zia Weise write.
European officials excluded the bloc's climate department when it crafted a European Commission proposal that includes the use of global carbon credits to meet the bloc's 2040 goals. Climate advocates have warned that the proposal could undermine the bloc's carbon trading system and emissions reduction goals.
In Other News
Coal cash: An Ohio law set to take effect next week ends the subsidies for two coal plants that have cost utility customers over $500 million.
Crowdsourcing power: Pacific Gas & Electric successfully tested a virtual power plant using the solar and batteries of 1,000 homes.
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A South Carolina judge dismissed the city of Charleston's lawsuit against fossil fuel companies over the effects of climate change.
Turkey will not help the European Union in its bid to end imports of Russian natural gas.
Energy Transfer announced plans to build a new $5.3 billion gas pipeline from West Texas to Arizona.
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
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San Francisco Chronicle
25 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bald eagles hatched in Piedmont. It turned into a neighborhood reckoning with patriotism
Lo Bloustein was looking through the viewfinder of her camera to a bald eagle nest in the distance when she noticed tears rolling down the face of the woman next to her. Bloustein pulled the stranger into her arms, Bloustein's own eyes now shimmering with tears. The two women had never met before that moment but were brought together by the arrival of two bald eagle fledglings in a massive nest visible from Moraga Avenue in Piedmont. Tomiko Eya, a resident of the neighborhood, wasn't crying because she was moved by the birds nested in a eucalyptus tree, but because she was concerned about the state of the country. American iconography like the American flag and the bald eagle have long been fraught symbols for some. And as President Donald Trump continues to dismantle the rights of marginalized communities like transgender people and immigrants, long-held symbols of the federal government and freedom feel especially loaded for some Americans. 'I can't believe we're going backwards,' Eya said, looking out toward the baby birds that will grow to resemble the iconic visage of the national bird. Put on the endangered species list in 1967, bald eagles have made a modest comeback in the Bay Area. But, observers say, this is the first time in recent memory that a bald eagle pair in the area has successfully hatched their eggs. In 2023, a mating pair attempted to nest in Alameda but never produced offspring. On a sunny day in late July, there were almost 30 people standing on the sidewalk next to Eya and Bloustein. Cars slowed in front of the crowd, their drivers befuddled by the streetside gathering. Bloustein beckoned for them to pull over and come take a look through her cameras, which had been focused toward the nest in a eucalyptus tree for hours. Since early April, when a neighbor spotted the twin silhouettes of the hatchlings, the neighborhood has been captivated by the family of four. Now, a fledgling covered in brown feathers — their renowned white feathers won't come in for a few years — stood at the edge of the nest, stretching its wings. For some onlookers like Eya and Bloustein, the birds — and their place in American iconography — bring up difficult feelings as a political divide deepens between citizens. The last few years have seen a flood of protests for racial justice, immigrant rights and trans rights. And while some protesters want to reclaim the American flag for the left, white supremacists and conservatives have also raised the American flag as a symbol of nationalism. 'It's the same with the flag — how do you feel looking at the flag right now?' Bloustein said to herself. 'Rage and fear. I have such a hard time right now with America in general.' The bald eagle has been a symbol of America since 1782, when it was first featured on the Great Seal of the United States. Over the years, the eagle has come to adorn federal and state buildings, money and military uniforms. But it didn't become the national bird until 2024, when former President Joe Biden gave it that official designation. As a youth, Eya attended schools in Chicago and Los Angeles, where she said the bald eagle seemed exclusively symbolic of the federal government. But her family history has complicated her view of American iconography. Eya's father was incarcerated alongside other Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II at Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas — another state where bald eagles are known to hatch and raise their young. Her father's incarceration and the racial discrimination he faced after the war made him lean into patriotism, she said. 'It was such a horrible experience for him,' she said. 'And it made him more conservative, if you can believe it. He wanted to be as American as he could be.' That trauma trickled down to Eya, too, but transformed her into a self-identified radical from a young age. 'My parents wanted me to be as white as I could be, to shut my mouth, which was very hard for me,' she said. 'I've never been that quiet.' Before her father passed, Eya gave him an American flag for his birthday. But she'd never have one at her own home because she associates it with Japanese incarceration, slavery and other acts of state-sanctioned violence. Still, she doesn't want to put blame on a wild animal for something humans have projected onto it. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she looked out at the tree, where one of the fledglings was spreading its wings. 'I sort of separate it out because I don't want to put any negativity on the eagles,' Eya said. Bloustein, who lives in San Francisco, agreed. 'When Trump was elected, I started going out to Holly Park at dawn because I needed to see the sunrise and the birds — things that the government couldn't f— up,' she said.
San Francisco Chronicle
25 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Will UCLA wilt like an Ivy? Trump extortion threat is the ultimate test
California's public universities have the chance to do something elite Ivy League schools didn't have the guts to: stand up to Donald Trump's latest extortion plot. Trump is demanding $1 billion in California taxpayer dollars to avoid a lawsuit over the administration's finding that the campus broke the law in its handling of antisemitism claims last year. Presumably the payout would mean the administration would also agree to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding it recently yanked. (Californians already pay $83 billion more in taxes than we receive in federal benefits as a state.) Plus, according to terms of the proposed settlement as CNN reported Friday, Trump wants to prohibit overnight demonstrations, require UCLA to discontinue race- and ethnicity-based scholarships, and provide a resolution monitor with admissions data. UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a letter to the university community this week that $584 million 'is suspended and at risk.' The loss of those funds, Frenk said, would 'be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation.' The Trump administration has already blocked more than $5 billion in funding from at least seven private universities: Harvard ($2.3 billion), Cornell ($1 billion), Northwestern ($790 million), Brown ($510 million), Columbia ($400 million), Duke ($108 million) and the University of Pennsylvania ($175 million). San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, a Harvard Law grad, assessed the situation best. He described Trump's shakedown as 'classic mob boss behavior' and said 'far too many major institutions are caving to this fascist.' 'The idea that UCLA would pay Trump tribute (California taxpayer dollars), adopt his bigoted policies, or give him even an ounce of control of the University's operations turns my stomach and should turn the stomach of every Californian. I'm confident UCLA will not enter into such an agreement, since doing so would violate California law, would violate our state's core values, and would be straight up morally unacceptable,' Wiener wrote in a statement. Gov. Gavin Newsom also urged the UC to stay strong, unlike the paper tigers of the Ivy League, against what he described Friday as Trump 'threaten(ing) us through extortion with a billion-dollar fine unless we do his bidding.' 'We're not Brown, we're not Columbia, and I'm not going to be governor if we act like that, period full stop,' Newsom said Thursday in San Francisco when I asked him whether the UC should cut a deal with Trump. 'I will fight like hell to make sure that doesn't happen. There's principles, there's right and wrong, and we'll do the right thing. And what President Trump is doing is wrong, and everybody knows it.' On Friday, after the DOJ floated the $1 billion ransom, Newsom doubled down: 'We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom, on this extraordinary public institution. We are not like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path.' California has always billed itself as a backstop against Trump. But it's hard to imagine a more clear and urgent test of whether it will live up to that role. There is a lot at stake here, as all 10 UC campuses rank among the top research universities in the world, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2025-26 Best Global Universities ranking in June. UC researchers produce four new inventions a day and the system is home to nearly 300 of the world's top researchers. Fueled by federal funding, UC researchers conduct 8% of all academic research in the U.S. (Full disclosure: I'm the very proud father of a UC Davis graduate. Go, Aggies!) Top UC campuses usually land near the Ivies in rankings of top colleges and compete for the nation's elite students. They frequently outperform the more expensive Ivies in terms of a financial return on investment, according to a 2022 study by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. 'They have the power and the position and the funding to hold the line and serve as an example to universities,' Veena Dubal, a professor of law at UC Irvine and general counsel to the American Association of University Professors, told WBUR. Ivy Leaguers, meanwhile, love to brag about how many A-list lawyers they mint — including eight of the nine current Supreme Court Justices. But what good is all that power if they couldn't tap their elite alums to fight back against Trump? Instead, they wilted. They did what the wealthy often do when confronted with a difficult situation: They bought their way out. Columbia paid $220 million in 'tribute' to Don Donald. Brown paid $50 million to the state of Rhode Island, adopted the federal government's definition of 'male' and 'female,' and promised to remove any consideration of race from the admissions process, according to NPR. Harvard is willing to pay up to $500 million, the New York Times reported, a figure Harvard denied. The Ivy grads among you might be asking: Why doesn't the UC just pay Trump to go away? First, UC, which relies heavily on public funding, doesn't have the deep pockets the privately funded Ivies do. And there are strict rules on what the UC can tap its endowment for. (Paying off mob bosses is not on the list.) 'Withdrawals are limited to a portion of interest earnings from the funds and only a limited amount of annual earned income can be withdrawn and spent in any given year. Those funds are not sufficient to replace the state and federal funds that UC relies on for its day-to-day operating costs,' according to the UC. But there's a more existential reason the system cannot pay this ransom: As anyone familiar with a mob shakedown knows, once you start paying for 'protection,' you can't stop. Even more insidious is that Trump is cloaking his shakedown in the guise of addressing antisemitism on campus. To appease him, the Ivy League agreed to take certain Trump-approved steps to address such allegations. 'Trump is now using Jews as human shields to achieve political goals having nothing to do with antisemitism,' said Wiener, a co-chair of the Legislative Jewish Caucus who has faced antisemitic attacks while in office. 'Trump doesn't give a damn about Jews or antisemitism. He has antisemites in his Administration, he tried to elect a Nazi-aligned government in Germany, he dined with Nazi Nick Fuentes, and he spread antisemitic conspiracy theories. … Revoking science research funding in the name of the Jews is utterly is making Jews less safe, and he's making it harder for us to fight actual antisemitism.' So the next move is yours, UC. The system has long competed with the Ivies for students, talent and prestige. Now it could have the ultimate, well, trump card: It could say it refused to buckle when the very future of higher education was on the line.
CNBC
26 minutes ago
- CNBC
Trump's 'no tax on tips' raises worker questions: One bartender says it feels 'too good to be true'
Maddy Lopez, a bartender in Los Angeles, has spent 25 years working in the restaurant industry, where tips can make up a significant portion of a worker's income. When she heard about President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill," which includes a section called "no tax on tips," she said her first reaction was: "It's a little too good to be true." Lopez said that in her experience, tax breaks often seem to include "a catch," and she isn't sure the benefit will be as generous as some workers expect. It's a reasonable question, experts say: Some key details of the provision — including which occupations and kinds of gratuities may qualify — are still unclear. There's also some confusion among workers about how the tax break works. More from Personal Finance:What private assets in 401(k) plans mean for investorsEducation Department launches college financial aid form Trump's 'big beautiful bill' slashes this tax break for high earners in 2026 T. Cooper, a hair and makeup stylist in New York City, said that the measure is "being perceived incorrectly" among tipped workers she knows. "A lot of people don't understand that you will still have to pay the tax on tips," she said. Both Republicans and Democrats floated the "no tax on tips" idea during the 2024 presidential campaign. The "no tax on tips" provision in Trump's "big beautiful bill" provides a deduction worth up to $25,000. This tax break, which is available even if you don't itemize deductions, reduces taxable income. The deduction phases out, or gets smaller, once modified adjusted gross income exceeds $150,000. The law is also temporary; the tax break is available from 2025 through 2028. However, "you're still likely paying state taxes" on tip income, and you'll owe payroll levies for Medicare and Social Security, said Ben Henry-Moreland, a certified financial planner with advisor platform who analyzed the legislation. Deductible tips must appear on information returns from your employer, such as Form W-2 or 1099. But the agency's reporting rules for tip income remain unclear, experts say. For example, questions remain about how employers need to report tips on Forms W-2 or 1099 to qualify for the deduction. Currently, workers who make $20 or more per month in tips must report those earnings to employers, according to the IRS. Tips can include cash directly paid by customers, payouts from tip-sharing structures among employees and credit card payments. The IRS is expected to clarify which occupations qualify for the tax break in early October, per the agency. According to the provision, "qualified tips" include cash or gratuity paid by credit card, as well as earnings from a sharing arrangement. But it also says tips must be paid voluntarily by the customer. That puts automatic service charges — like mandatory gratuity charges restaurants impose on larger parties — in question, experts say. Adding to the reporting confusion, it's not unusual for those kinds of mandatory gratuities to mix with other tip income and simply appear as tips on tax forms, Lopez, the bartender, said of her experience. In some industries, tipping has decreased as consumer sentiment declines. During the second quarter of 2025, the average tip across restaurants, cafes and bars was at 14.99%, down from 15.17% the prior quarter, according to a new report by Square, a technology services company. "As consumer confidence in the economy shifts and tips fall, workers are taking home less," Ming-Tai Huh, head of food and beverage at Square, wrote in the report. Some consumers are also experiencing "tipping fatigue." About 41% of Americans said that "tipping is out of control" in 2025, up from 25% last year, according to a Bankrate report. Some workers say higher service costs and reduced consumer spending have contributed to these tipping trends. In the hair industry, prices typically rise every year as the cost of materials, rent and services go up, said Cooper. "So it's not that people have an issue with tipping," she said. "The service overall has just become way more expensive." In restaurants and bars, it's not unusual to see smaller checks these days, Lopez said, which makes your tip average decline. For example, previously, a $200 tab could earn $40 in tips. But nowadays, a typical tab could be $100, she said, and "you're only making $20 on the same guest."
