Latest news with #POLITICOEnergySummit
Politico
15 hours ago
- Business
- Politico
The White House Wants the Megabill by July 4. For Real.
House and Senate Republicans spent Thursday at each other's throats over President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' The sparring between the two chambers reached a point where members were openly scoffing at the GOP's self-imposed July 4 deadline for passing the bill. Down Pennsylvania Avenue, meanwhile, the White House isn't sweating. In fact, Trump's aides are downright bullish about getting the megabill wrapped up in a bow for a presidential signature by Independence Day. 'We are targeting the week of July 4 for final passage,' said one of two Trump administration officials I spoke to Wednesday and granted anonymity to candidly describe the private talks. Let's be clear: The timeline is extraordinarily fast. Not only does Senate Majority Leader John Thune have to find a way to bridge competing demands inside his conference and weather a grueling amendment 'vote-a-rama,' but he also has to work with Speaker Mike Johnson, who is already groaning at every change being entertained for the bill that barely passed his chamber last month. Traditionally, getting the two chambers aligned on a single piece of complicated legislation means weeks of 'conferencing' — that's what happened in 2017, the last time Republicans pursued a party-line tax bill. This time, the legislation is even more complicated and the margins even thinner. But White House officials are adamant that GOP leaders skip that step. Nor do they want the House making more changes after the Senate, requiring another 'pingpong' back across the Rotunda. They expect the Senate to clear a bill that the House can simply plop on the floor, pass and send to Trump's desk. 'There's not going to be a pingpong or a conference,' the official told me yesterday. Can they really do that in just three weeks? Some Republicans are skeptical, to say the least. Sen. John Curtis of Utah said 'a lot of us would be surprised' if the July 4 deadline holds at the POLITICO Energy Summit Tuesday. And during a Punchbowl News event Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said that while the Senate might be able to finish on time, it could take another month to negotiate with the House. 'The Senate is going to do what it damn well wants to do,' he said. OK, senator: Go tell that to Donald Trump. Some of the president's allies on the Hill are already dreaming up a snazzy Rose Garden celebration to ring in both Independence Day and the enactment of the 'big, beautiful bill.' (At least that's what one well-placed GOP congressional aide predicted to me this week.) The recent history of the megabill is fueling the administration's confidence. Political prognosticators scoffed at Johnson's self-imposed Memorial Day target for House passage, predicting the warring factions in his conference would make that deadline an impossibility. But Trump swooped in and muscled the bill through by sheer force, strong-arming moderate holdouts and bringing conservatives to heel. And White House officials are sure he can do it again. Administration aides are well aware of the work left to be done. Senate Republicans are already moving to throw a major wrench in the negotiations by upending two key provisions that were essential to winning the support of rival blocs in the House. Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo told his colleagues Wednesday he plans to deliver on a personal priority that's highly desired by members of his panel: making key business tax breaks permanent. To do it, he's ready to scale back the House's $40,000 cap on the state-and-local-tax deduction — a key factor in winning the support of blue-state GOP holdouts. And to manage desires elsewhere in the Senate GOP, Crapo also hinted he'll elongate the phase-out time for some clean-energy tax breaks enacted under former President Joe Biden — a huge no-no for House Freedom Caucus members, who made their quick repeal a must in exchange for their votes. That means Trump is about to find himself in a familiar spot — playing referee between the chambers — and his team knows it. He could start blowing the whistle as soon as Thursday, when he meets with Thune and Crapo at the White House. There's good reason to think that Trump will ultimately be able to impose his will on the unruly GOP lawmakers. There were signs he was already doing so this week, after rumblings emerged about some Senate Republicans wanting to scale back Trump's tax priorities in order to pay for the business tax provisions. Trump's campaign pledges to exempt tips, overtime pay and Social Security from income taxes made it into the House bill at a cost of $230 billion, according to a Joint Committee on Taxation score. Scrapping or scaling back any of those provisions could have been a huge boon to Senate tax writers. But the White House made clear behind the scenes that would be a no-go: 'We're not willing to entertain any scaling back of our signature promises,' a second Trump administration official said. 'You're not going to rock the president's commitments to the voters to pay for [business] expensing in the out years.' On Tuesday, Thune made it clear to reporters that Trump's priorities would stay — words the White House welcomed. So don't expect much stomach inside the GOP for bucking Trump's wishes over the coming weeks. It's telling that, as I was told, none of the Senate Finance Republicans who met with Trump last week raised the issue of shrinking his tax wish list during their White House skull session. That just underscores how no one — not even senators who get six-year terms and have historically relished their independence — wants to tell the most powerful man in the world: Please, Mr. President, we'd like to water down your campaign promises to substitute one of our own. 'I think ultimately a lot of members are wish-casting different structures to permit more of their own priorities, and certainly that's something that senators are welcome to do,' the first official said. But 'the president's priorities are not negotiable in this process.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
GOP megabill could undermine US energy production, Republicans warn
Republicans want to expand power production to shore up the grid and support the growth of data centers — but their own megabill risks doing the exact opposite. That's the message lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, industry executives and former Republican officials delivered on stage at the POLITICO Energy Summit on Tuesday. The reconciliation bill that passed the House last month seeks to gut clean energy tax credits enacted by Democrats in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, particularly for wind and solar — two of the fastest-growing sources on the grid. President Donald Trump has derided those subsidies as the 'Green New Scam,' and congressional Republicans have said the two technologies must stand on their own after decades of support. But the speedy sunset of the investment and production tax credits under the House bill would hurt companies that have made investments based on the IRA, several of the Summit speakers said. The House-passed bill is not 'fair to businesses in the way that we're phasing [the credits] out,' said Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis. 'Investors have invested billions of dollars based on the rules of the road, and you have employees who have set careers based on these things.' Energy companies have warned the bill could lead to the cancellation of hundreds of major electricity generation projects, just as the nation's utilities prepare for a surge in power demand from new AI data centers. John Ketchum, chair and CEO of NextEra, the nation's biggest owner of natural gas-fired power plants and the world's leading generator of electricity from wind and solar power, said he agrees with the Trump administration's declaration of an energy emergency — but warned renewables cannot be taken 'off the table.' 'We cannot afford to do that. If we do that, we will lose the AI race, and we will bring this economic expansion in the United States to a screeching halt,' Ketchum said. That's because a new fleet of natural gas power plants won't be ready until 2032, he added, and nuclear power will take even longer. And former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Neil Chatterjee, who served under the first Trump administration, said fossil fuels must be complemented by renewables and emerging technologies like geothermal and nuclear — as well as energy efficiency efforts. 'We can't possibly win the AI race and keep energy reliable and affordable with only fossil fuels,' Chatterjee said. 'We need every available electron.' But the backing for renewables drew pushback from Jarrod Agen, the executive director of Trump's newly created National Energy Dominance Council, who said he was 'very happy' with the bill the House produced. Wind and solar are 'intermittent' sources, he said, that 'can't stand on their own feet.' While the administration believes that nuclear energy will ultimately be the 'perfect source,' fossil fuels and coal are the most reliable and secure sources today, Agen said. Here are some other takeaways from Tuesday's event: Curtis, who has urged his Senate colleagues for months to preserve the IRA credits, specifically called for the bill to set a phase-out date for the clean energy tax credits based on when developers start construction of new projects, rather than on when a project begins producing electricity, as the House bill does. The House language discourages new investment because construction timelines are often uncertain, he said. 'Changing it to say something about the date [construction] started would be a really significant difference and not really hurt the intent of what Republicans are trying to do on this bill,' Curtis said. That echoed comments from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who also urged changes to the bill's prohibition on foreign involvement in projects, which he said is 'completely unworkable in its current form.' Even Jennifer Granholm, who oversaw much of the growth spurred by the credits as the Biden administration's energy secretary, told the summit the bill could be 'workable' if the Senate fixes those two provisions, as well as restores rules that allow companies to buy and sell the tax credits. Former FERC leaders bemoaned President Donald Trump's treatment of the agency, with Chatterjee warning the moves could turn the independent regulator into the 'EPA,' which has whipsawed between administrations. Trump requested that former Democratic Chair Willie Phillips depart the commission, and last week declined to renominate current Republican Chair Mark Christie for a second term. His administration has moved to exert more power over other independent agencies as well. 'If the White House exerts control over the agency and they have to clear everything through OIRA and through OMB, then effectively the role of FERC chairman is no longer as head of an independent agency, it's basically a staff position,' Chatterjee told the audience. The energy world is still processing the falling-out between Trump and his former 'first buddy,' clean energy and electric vehicle entrepreneur Elon Musk. House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) told the summit that Musk never brought up objections to the Republican megabill during a breakfast just hours after the House passed the measure. 'He talked about AI, he talked about all this stuff that [was] energy,' Guthrie said. 'Never mentioned the bill. And the bill had just been voted.' Granholm signaled that clean energy advocates could welcome Musk back into the fold, calling his electric vehicle company Tesla 'amazing' while noting the 'later part of his journey has been more challenging.' Pressed on Musk's support for clean energy, Agen, the White House official, said: 'The President is in charge.' Granholm acknowledged that Democrats should have done a better job on the campaign trail last year selling their vision of job creation from the clean energy transition. But the party going forward also needs to hone its messaging on 'keeping costs low by using the cheapest form of energy,' which is renewables, Granholm said. Heinrich, too, forecast that Republicans' fossil fuel push would drive up energy prices — and provide a political opening to Democrats. 'We're in a constrained supply environment and an increased demand environment,' he said. 'People's electricity bills all over the country are going to go up. What I can guarantee you is in the next election and the election after that Republicans are going to own increased energy prices.'
Politico
2 days ago
- Business
- Politico
GOP megabill could undermine US energy production, Republicans warn
Republicans want to expand power production to shore up the grid and support the growth of data centers — but their own megabill risks doing the exact opposite. That's the message lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, industry executives and former Republican officials delivered on stage at the POLITICO Energy Summit on Tuesday. The reconciliation bill that passed the House last month seeks to gut clean energy tax credits enacted by Democrats in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, particularly for wind and solar — two of the fastest-growing sources on the grid. President Donald Trump has derided those subsidies as the 'Green New Scam,' and congressional Republicans have said the two technologies must stand on their own after decades of support. But the speedy sunset of the investment and production tax credits under the House bill would hurt companies that have made investments based on the IRA, several of the Summit speakers said. The House-passed bill is not 'fair to businesses in the way that we're phasing [the credits] out,' said Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis. 'Investors have invested billions of dollars based on the rules of the road, and you have employees who have set careers based on these things.' Energy companies have warned the bill could lead to the cancellation of hundreds of major electricity generation projects, just as the nation's utilities prepare for a surge in power demand from new AI data centers. John Ketchum, chair and CEO of NextEra, the nation's biggest owner of natural gas-fired power plants and the world's leading generator of electricity from wind and solar power, said he agrees with the Trump administration's declaration of an energy emergency — but warned renewables cannot be taken 'off the table.' 'We cannot afford to do that. If we do that, we will lose the AI race, and we will bring this economic expansion in the United States to a screeching halt,' Ketchum said. That's because a new fleet of natural gas power plants won't be ready until 2032, he added, and nuclear power will take even longer. And former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Neil Chatterjee, who served under the first Trump administration, said fossil fuels must be complemented by renewables and emerging technologies like geothermal and nuclear — as well as energy efficiency efforts. 'We can't possibly win the AI race and keep energy reliable and affordable with only fossil fuels,' Chatterjee said. 'We need every available electron.' But the backing for renewables drew pushback from Jarrod Agen, the executive director of Trump's newly created National Energy Dominance Council, who said he was 'very happy' with the bill the House produced. Wind and solar are 'intermittent' sources, he said, that 'can't stand on their own feet.' While the administration believes that nuclear energy will ultimately be the 'perfect source,' fossil fuels and coal are the most reliable and secure sources today, Agen said. Here are some other takeaways from Tuesday's event: Curtis, who has urged his Senate colleagues for months to preserve the IRA credits, specifically called for the bill to set a phase-out date for the clean energy tax credits based on when developers start construction of new projects, rather than on when a project begins producing electricity, as the House bill does. The House language discourages new investment because construction timelines are often uncertain, he said. 'Changing it to say something about the date [construction] started would be a really significant difference and not really hurt the intent of what Republicans are trying to do on this bill,' Curtis said. That echoed comments from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who also urged changes to the bill's prohibition on foreign involvement in projects, which he said is 'completely unworkable in its current form.' Even Jennifer Granholm, who oversaw much of the growth spurred by the credits as the Biden administration's energy secretary, told the summit the bill could be 'workable' if the Senate fixes those two provisions, as well as restores rules that allow companies to buy and sell the tax credits. Former FERC leaders bemoaned President Donald Trump's treatment of the agency, with Chatterjee warning the moves could turn the independent regulator into the 'EPA,' which has whipsawed between administrations. Trump requested that former Democratic Chair Willie Phillips depart the commission, and last week declined to renominate current Republican Chair Mark Christie for a second term. His administration has moved to exert more power over other independent agencies as well. 'If the White House exerts control over the agency and they have to clear everything through OIRA and through OMB, then effectively the role of FERC chairman is no longer as head of an independent agency, it's basically a staff position,' Chatterjee told the audience. The energy world is still processing the falling-out between Trump and his former 'first buddy,' clean energy and electric vehicle entrepreneur Elon Musk. House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) told the summit that Musk never brought up objections to the Republican megabill during a breakfast just hours after the House passed the measure. 'He talked about AI, he talked about all this stuff that [was] energy,' Guthrie said. 'Never mentioned the bill. And the bill had just been voted.' Granholm signaled that clean energy advocates could welcome Musk back into the fold, calling his electric vehicle company Tesla 'amazing' while noting the 'later part of his journey has been more challenging.' Pressed on Musk's support for clean energy, Agen, the White House official, said: 'The President is in charge.' Granholm acknowledged that Democrats should have done a better job on the campaign trail last year selling their vision of job creation from the clean energy transition. But the party going forward also needs to hone its messaging on 'keeping costs low by using the cheapest form of energy,' which is renewables, Granholm said. Heinrich, too, forecast that Republicans' fossil fuel push would drive up energy prices — and provide a political opening to Democrats. 'We're in a constrained supply environment and an increased demand environment,' he said. 'People's electricity bills all over the country are going to go up. What I can guarantee you is in the next election and the election after that Republicans are going to own increased energy prices.'
Politico
2 days ago
- Business
- Politico
Playbook PM: Why Republicans' megabill deadline could slip
Presented by THE CATCH-UP FORLORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY: Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) dumped some cold water on Republicans' self-imposed July 4 deadline to deliver their sprawling megabill to President Donald Trump's desk. 'I think a lot of us would be surprised if it passed by July 4,' Curtis said at the POLITICO Energy Summit, per POLITICO's Kelsey Brugger. 'I think that's a false deadline. I don't think that we need to put a specific deadline on it. Let's get it right.' A message for Musk: Curtis also downplayed any perceived influence that Elon Musk has over negotiations among Senate Republicans amid the billionaire tech mogul's ardent campaign against the megabill. 'If he would stop and slow down and realize the way Washington works, because what he does with a business is very different in the culture and everything is so different than what we do in Washington, D.C.,' Curtis said, adding that there's 'a lot we could learn from him and vice versa.' Curtis also shrugged as to why exactly Musk has recently targeted the bill. 'I'm a U.S. senator voting on this bill, and I don't know why he hates it. You can see how he's missed an opportunity,' Curtis said. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chair of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, had similar words for Musk this morning, saying that the ex-DOGE head didn't voice any concerns over the bill when he had the chance. Guthrie and Musk met over breakfast just hours after the House passed the bill, and 'he never mentioned the bill that morning,' Guthrie said at the summit, per POLITICO's Kelsey Tamborrino. Instead, he said, Musk talked about competition with China to dominate AI. Guthrie also addressed Musk's generic threats to primary Republicans who back the bill, once again downplaying the influence of the world's richest man against that of the GOP flagbearer. 'I assume that if [Musk] chooses somebody to primary, President Trump would probably take the opposite side, and in my district ... if I had that problem, I think President Trump would be a good person to come campaign in my district,' Guthrie said. More highlights: HAPPENING TODAY: New Jersey voters are heading to the polls for the state's gubernatorial primaries. For the GOP, Jack Ciattarelli is the leading candidate. But the Democratic primary is the race to keep an eye on: Despite Rep. Mikie Sherrill's frontrunner status, five other candidates all have a legitimate path to the nomination. POLITICO's Madison Fernandez and Daniel Han have more on what to watch tonight Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@ 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 1. THE LATEST ON LA: Trump's decision to deploy troops to Los Angeles in response to a string of protests over the administration's immigration actions will likely cost $134 million, the Pentagon's budget chief told lawmakers this morning, POLITICO's Connor O'Brien and Joe Gould report. 'Acting Pentagon comptroller Bryn MacDonnell, testifying at a House budget hearing on Tuesday alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, said the estimate covers costs such as travel, housing and food. … Hegseth sparred with Democrats during the hearing in defense of the deployment, arguing Newsom and Bass, both Democrats, mishandled the situation.' Survey says: A new YouGov poll finds that Trump's deployment of Marines to Los Angeles is deeply unpopular, with a 47 percent disapproval mark, compared with 34 percent who approve. Dispatching the National Guard isn't much better: 45 percent disapprove and 38 percent approve. See the full results Disinformation digest: 'Fake Images and Conspiracy Theories Swirl Around L.A. Protests,' by NYT's Steven Lee Myers 2. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: The World Bank said this morning that U.S. economic growth 'may halve this year as a result of President Trump's tariff policies, while the global economy is set to suffer a more modest, but still significant, slowdown,' per WSJ's Paul Hannon. The projection says the U.S. will 'grow by just 1.4% in 2025, a sharp deceleration from the 2.8% expansion recorded in 2024' and global 'output to grow by 2.3% this year and 2.4% the next, having previously projected an expansion of 2.7% in each year.' Caution sign: 'The World Bank warned that the slowdown in both the U.S. and global economies could be more severe if tariffs were increased further from the levels that prevailed in late May.' What Trump will like: But the World Bank also 'effectively endorsed President Donald Trump's complaint about the high tariffs that other nations impose on American products, calling for U.S. trading partners to sharply reduce their import taxes to more closely match the lower levies typically imposed by Washington,' WaPo's David Lynch writes. 3. WHERE THE WHITE HOUSE IS SAVING AID: The White House is racing to assuage concerns from key House Republicans who are wary of plans to slash global AIDS funding ahead of a Thursday vote on a $9.4 billion spending cuts package, POLITICO's Meredith Lee Hill reports. 'In recent days, White House officials have conveyed to GOP leaders that they will not only maintain life-saving treatments under PEPFAR but will also — in response to concerns from more than a dozen House Republicans — preserve some prevention programs as well.' 4. GUANTANAMO UPDATE: The Trump administration is 'planning to dramatically ramp up sending undocumented migrants to Guantanamo Bay starting this week, with at least 9,000 people being vetted for transfer,' POLITICO's Nahal Toosi and Myah Ward scoop. 'That would be an exponential increase from the roughly 500 migrants who have been held for short periods at the base since February and a major step toward realizing a plan President Donald Trump announced in January to use the facility to hold as many as 30,000 migrants. The transfers to Guantanamo could start as soon as Wednesday, the documents state.' 5. MUSK READ: DOJ and DHS in 2022 and 2023 'tracked foreign nationals coming and going to Elon Musk's properties,' WSJ's Dana Mattioli and colleagues scoop. The investigation 'focused on people visiting the tech billionaire, from countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, who might have been trying to influence him.' Though WSJ notes that several agencies, including the FBI, were briefed on the probe, it never progressed to any charges and its current status is unclear. But even last year, as he worked to help reelect Trump, Musk's frequent travel with foreigners concerned staffers for his super PAC over 'who was joining him at meetings and events.' Officials 'had to institute extensive vetting to keep foreigners out of their efforts.' 6. BOSS HOGG: DNC Vice Chair David Hogg is getting involved in yet another Democratic primary, defying party leadership amid a broader struggle over the DNC's direction under Chair Ken Martin, who recently told party leaders in a private conversation that he's unsure about his ability to lead the party because of infighting created by Hogg. 'Hogg's political group, Leaders We Deserve, is backing 37-year-old state Del. Irene Shin, who is part of a crowded Democratic field vying later this month to fill [late Rep. Gerry] Connolly's seat in Northern Virginia after his death last month,' WaPo's Patrick Svitek reports. 7. VAX POPULI: HHS is 'circulating a document on Capitol Hill to explain its decision to remove the Covid-19 vaccine recommendation for pregnant women — citing studies that largely found the shot is safe,' POLITICO's Sophie Gardner and Lauren Gardner report. 'The document, which HHS sent to lawmakers days before Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his plan to fire the panel that advises the CDC on immunizations, says that studies have shown that women who got the vaccine during pregnancy had higher rates of various complications.' But the author of one study cited tells POLITICO that 'the results of our manuscript were misinterpreted.' 8. THE YOUTH MOVEMENT: Iowa Democrats are pushing hard for a younger generation to take up the mantle and make the party competitive in a red state once again. But the crop of candidates — both in Iowa and beyond — who came up online are proving a bit difficult to harvest. 'This weekend, as Zach Wahls, a 33-year-old state senator, planned to launch his Senate campaign, some Democratic operatives in Iowa circulated an old message board in which Mr. Wahls, at age 19, had opined about his pornography preferences and volunteered that his parents had given him a subscription to Playboy magazine when he was 16,' NYT's Reid Epstein writes. 'Other campaigns have confronted similar turbulence.' 9. FOR YOUR RADAR: North Korea 'appears to be building a new uranium-enrichment plant in its main nuclear complex, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog warned this week, the strongest sign yet that the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, plans to grow its nuclear weapons supply,' NYT's Choe Sang-Hun reports from Seoul. TALK OF THE TOWN Tulsi Gabbard, in a dramatic video on X, warned of a 'nuclear holocaust' and chastised 'warmongers' for bringing the world 'closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before.' Michael Stipe, Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile are among the artists appearing on an album to benefit Democracy Forward. SPOTTED: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Lina Khan running through the Capitol together on the way to votes this morning. MEDIAWATCH — Mark Guiducci is taking over as top editor of Vanity Fair, per NYT's Katie Robertson. The 36-year-old Guiducci 'takes over a job that is very different from the one held by previous editors of Vanity Fair. He will be the first 'global editorial director' at Vanity Fair — gone is the editor in chief title — and will oversee Vanity Fair in the United States as well as editions across the world.' TRANSITIONS — Cally Barry is now senior adviser and comms director for Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). She most recently was comms director for Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas). … Marybeth Nassif is joining Jones Walker as a director in the government relations practice group. She previously was a professional staff member for the House Appropriations Committee. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate Republican questions megabill deadline — and says Musk ‘missed an opportunity' to shape it
Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis raised doubts on Tuesday the GOP could pass its megabill by its self-imposed Independence Day deadline. Curtis, speaking at the POLITICO Energy Summit in Washington, said, "I think a lot of us would be surprised if it passed by July 4." He added: 'I think that's a false deadline. I don't think that we need to put a specific deadline on it. Let's get it right." Curtis, who has been pushing for specific changes to the House-passed tax cut, energy and security spending budget bill, said the package would unfairly phase out tax credits from the Democrats' 2022 climate law. He said the rollbacks could harm energy workers and the economy. "I think that banks, the investors have invested billions of dollars based on the rules of the road, and you have employees who have set careers based on these things," he said. 'And if they're to go, and I do think some of them should go. … Let's just be thoughtful in how we phase them out,' Curtis said. 'Let's not destroy careers and things like that.' As an example, Curtis said he's pushing for changes to the construction start date language. The senator's comments come as colleagues hash out details over contentious matters including renewable energy incentives, Medicaid changes and other provisions. The comments by Curtis, a relative moderate, underscore how difficult it could be for President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to get all Republicans in line before July. Asked if Elon Musk's recent opposition to the megabill because of deficit concerns could upend the effort, Curtis downplayed the billionaire's influence among Republican senators and suggested he does not appreciate how slowly government operates. 'If he would stop and slow down and realize the way Washington works, because what he does with a business is very different in the culture and everything is so different than what we do in Washington, D.C.," Curtis said, adding, "There's a lot we could learn from him and vice versa.' Curtis also said he was unsure exactly why Musk hates the bill. 'I'm a U.S. senator voting on this bill, and I don't know why he hates it. You can see how he's missed an opportunity.' More broadly, Curtis suggested Democrats were partly to blame for demonizing the fossil fuel industry — leading to Trump having an 'overreaction' on energy policy and rhetoric. 'I think what you're sensing is an overreaction to the demonizing that we've had of fossil fuels and how they should be 100 percent eliminated, and perhaps what you're seeing is simply a reaction to that to say, 'Wait a minute.'' Curtis said the reality is that energy demand for the coming decades will require renewables and fossil fuels as well as emerging technologies. 'I believe for us to get to our energy future, we're going to need 100 percent of everything,' he said.
