Energy & Environment

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The Big Story

Senate passes GOP policy bill with energy changes

The Senate on Tuesday passed its version of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — but the chamber dropped its proposed excise tax on solar and wind.

Vice President Vance cast the tiebreaking vote to approve the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.

GOP Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted against the measure, along with every Democrat.

The text released on Tuesday has major changes compared to prior drafts

It drops an excise tax that would have impacted future solar and wind projects if some of their components come from China.

The excise tax had been a last-minute addition to the bill and was made public over the weekend. Many in the industry had warned it could kill future projects.

It also says that projects need to be producing electricity by 2028 to get the credit.

However, it also contains a new safe harbor that allows solar or wind projects that begin construction in the next year to get the full value of the credit — regardless of when they begin producing electricity.

Read more about the bill’s passage here, from The Hill’s Alexander Bolton and read more about its energy provision here, from Rachel.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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What We’re Reading

News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

An Offhand Remark About Gold Bars, Secretly Recorded, Upended His Life (The New York Times)
N.C. Has Allowed a Likely Carcinogen Into Three Rivers Serving 900,000 People (Inside Climate News)
To fight Trump’s funding freezes, states propose a new gambit: Withholding federal payments (NBC News)

What Others are Reading

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

House conservatives threaten floor revolt over Trump megabill

What made the cut in Senate’s nearly 1,000-page policy megabill?

Senate Republicans on Tuesday jammed through a major package advancing President Trump’s tax priorities, paid for by a host of cuts to the social safety net, including Medicaid and food assistance. The bill also slashes green energy and includes changes to student loan programs. Read more