Key Senate Democrats set high bar for permitting bill support
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Four Senate Democrats are pressing Trump officials to begin restoring billions of dollars in clean energy grants before a key vote on the permitting deal.
Why it matters: The path for the bipartisan bill in the lame duck session just got steeper.
The big picture: Before the first vote, the senators — Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Ed Markey (Mass.), and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) — want Trump aides to tell the Energy Department to:
- Begin reinstating grants terminated in October 2025 that have not already been restored with a clear timeline for completion, and allow recipients to draw on the funds under the original terms.
- Pledge in writing not to cancel grants based on the political hue of a state or its officials.
Driving the news: Their new letter to the bill's authors stops shy of an ultimatum, but says it would be "compelling" if these steps occurred.
- It shows deep misgivings about the bill, arguing it could provide new tools for Trump to favor fossil fuels.
- "[T]he promise of BAAJA will only succeed if President Trump takes care that it is faithfully executed. The Trump administration's record gives us no basis to assume that he will," the letter states, calling the bill by its acronym.
Catch up quick: The letter recounts the scuttling of Biden-era grants, and White House budget chief Russ Vought listing states that did not vote for President Trump in 2024.
- The Energy Department has acknowledged, in a court filing, that selections of grants for termination in October 2025 were based on politics.
- Restoring "unlawfully terminated DOE clean energy awards would be a small but important first step" toward fairness in permitting, it states.
Friction point: Co-authors Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) want to see more federal approvals of stalled renewables projects.
- They've called some recent administration moves a step in the right direction.
- But the new letter shows that other lawmakers have separate asks of the administration.
- Already, some House Democrats have criticized other portions of the bill and called for changes, such as its effects on tribal input into energy projects.
State of play: The status of billions of dollars in scuttled or frozen grants — under the 2021 infrastructure and 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — is a moving legal and administrative target.
- Many are in "limbo," per a report this month from the DOE Alumni Network and Lawyers for Good Government.
- It also found that most projects DOE retained have received "negligible" funding.
- The October 2025 cancellations largely targeted blue states, but wider delays and uncertainty have affected places of varying political stripes.
Flashback: DOE has said it reviewed grants for financial soundness, economic viability, consistency with administration goals, and other criteria.
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