1. United States
2. Minn.
3. Letter

There are many horrible things in this bill, but I am writing because this tax would kill the industry in which I make a living, and potentially leave me jobless. The new excise tax on Wind and Solar energy projects in Trump and Republicans' budget bill must be stopped. Democrats and Republicans must defeat this bill, or at least remove this tax from the final version. Renewable energy is the energy of the future. Wind and Solar are the vast majority of new energy projects being constructed, because they are economically competitive. This tax is a Big Government attempt to pick winners and losers and hobble renewable energy in America. It will kill the economic benefits of these projects, most of which are in rural areas of red states. By killing this industry, the tax will also kill thousands of jobs, including in American manufacturing and construction, and will raise energy costs for consumers by depressing the supply of energy at a time of historic increase in energy use for industry and AI. All of this would also surrender American leadership in clean energy to China. Republicans and Trump want to compete against China, including on AI, where they want to build even more power-hungry data centers to fuel growth in AI. They want more American manufacturing and construction jobs. America needs more Solar and Wind energy to do all of these things. Delay the vote on this bill as long as possible. Spend as much time as you can explaining what Republicans and Trump don't want the public to know, about how this bill will raise the cost Americans pay for energy, destroy homegrown industries of the future, cost countless American jobs, and surrender American economic leadership to China. The longer we can drag it through the harsh light of day, the more Americans will see how this bill harms all of us. The more Americans see it, the more heat Republicans will feel. The more heat they feel, the more likely they are to bend and remove this tax from the bill.