Republicans in Washington pushing bill to increase cost of utility bills, destroy jobs,
DENVER - Today, Governor Polis and Energy Office Executive Director Will Toor sent an letter to Colorado’s congressional delegation and the leadership of the Senate Finance Committee to raise the alarm over rollbacks in the Republicans’ disastrous budget bill that eliminates initiatives that save Coloradans money and harms the clean energy industry.
“In Colorado, we work to save people money on energy. The Senate must scrap the House budget and start from scratch to remove these and other disastrous cuts that will increase costs, make America less competitive, and increase pollution," said Colorado Governor Jared Polis.
In 2024, 95 percent of new electricity capacity across the United States came from new solar, batteries, nuclear, and wind power. Rollbacks from House Republicans will take away money-saving solutions, raising energy costs on Colorado families by 10% by 2030 and knee-capping the fastest way to add much-needed energy to the grid. Proposed federal cuts will hurt Colorado landowners and farmers, hinder advanced clean manufacturing, destroy good-paying jobs, and weaken our economy.
“In addition to the loss of good paying jobs and stalled private investments, these federal cuts would hit Colorado families hard. Up to thirty percent of Colorado households are energy burdened, meaning a large part of their incomes are spent on electricity, heating, and cooling,” Governor Polis and Director Toor wrote. “From farmers in the San Luis Valley and on the Western Slope installing solar panels to power irrigation systems on their land, to advanced manufacturers along the Front Range producing electric vehicle (EV) components, and households using at-home energy tax savings the investments and credits from the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are lowering costs.”
“Rollbacks would be a self-inflicted wound to rural Colorado, erasing real progress across Colorado. The proposed cuts would strip away tools that Colorado farmers, ranchers, and landowners are using to lower costs, boost yields, and build resilience against drought and extreme weather,” the letter continued.
“By strengthening U.S.-based manufacturing of critical technologies, like batteries, solar components, and semiconductors, the IRA is reducing our reliance on unstable or adversarial foreign suppliers. This is smart economic policy, and it is essential to military readiness and energy resilience, especially for Colorado’s defense installations like Fort Carson, Buckley Space Force Base, and the Air Force Academy,” Governor Polis and Director Toor continued.
“Congress backtracking on these commitments now, after billions have been invested and supply chains established, would send a deeply destabilizing signal to free markets, developers, and manufacturers that have chosen Colorado because of our strong policy alignment and predictable federal support. If these provisions are included in a final bill, they will go against the best interests of the people we serve as well as the interests of future generations.”
Read Governor Polis’s full letter.
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