WASHINGTON, D.C. – In case you missed it, the Washington Examiner recently featured an op-ed by Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which highlighted how provisions within the Working Families Tax Cuts are unleashing American energy dominance and lowering energy and electricity prices. In Case You Missed It: “The energy prices that dramatically increased during the Biden administration are continuing to rise, and the attempts by Democrats to pin the increase on President Donald Trump’s policies willfully ignore how their reckless decisions during the previous administration have led us here. “Since the Working Families Tax Cuts was signed into law, Democrats have tried to claim that Republican policies would cause energy prices to rise for families. This is false. The legislation strips subsidies for parts of the far-left energy agenda that have been driving up prices. On the contrary, the tax cuts law will save the average household $2,900 in 2026. “The truth is that building the electricity grid on unreliable, taxpayer-subsidized wind and solar — as Democrats have advocated for the last decade — has driven up costs. As energy producers and grid operators have told us in hearings this year, subsidizing intermittent sources of electricity essentially requires building two systems to keep the lights on. One is the costly wind and solar system touted by liberal donors and the renewable energy lobby. The other is a reliable backup system necessary for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. “Subsidies for wind and solar projects, as well as regulations aimed at hampering natural gas and coal generation, have been driving up rates and undermining reliability. It was the Biden administration that restricted energy supplies, forced the end of fossil fuel generation in favor of costly intermittent power, and failed to provide for increased demand from artificial intelligence data centers, advanced manufacturing, and the growing consumer economy. “With those harmful policies of the past four years already built into state and utility planning decisions, families are continuing to see the legacy effect of rising costs in their household bills. The energy grid cannot be rebalanced to provide affordable, reliable power in a matter of months; it takes years. “Energy prices rose nearly 30% under the Biden administration, 13 times faster than the previous seven years. That spike came from the far-left policies that rewarded Democrats’ anti-fossil fuel special interest allies and the green energy sector. The Obama and Biden administrations wielded the regulatory state to stifle the production of reliable baseload power, all while like-minded states continued to phase out reliable baseload power generation as well. “Democrats are now claiming even more wind- and solar-powered electricity needs to be brought online quickly to meet our needs, which flatly ignores the effects we’re already seeing from these policies leading to rising costs and unreliability. Simply put, intermittent resources cannot reliably provide power during times of peak demand, especially during extreme weather events. “This is not to say that there is no role at all for wind and solar energy, but the reality is that these sources must be supported in the background by natural gas, coal, hydropower, or nuclear. Adding more wind and solar inputs while closing and restricting more reliable power only drives up costs and increases risks of brownouts and blackouts. Just compare two of our largest states: natural gas-dominant Florida has seen electricity rates that are half those of renewable-dominant California. “The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has heard testimony from grid operators that the current imbalance in the grid, caused by the retirements of reliable generation and a massive oversupply of intermittent wind and solar, is unsustainable and that there is a major need for more baseload power in the coming years. This is leading grid operators to take emergency steps to expedite the build-out of fossil fuel generation over wind and solar to rebalance the grid and avoid costly blackouts. “In a recent report, the Department of Energy warned that outages could increase 100 times by 2030 if power plant retirements and the increase in overall demand for electricity continue at their current pace. Even as more renewables have come online, our grid is not prepared to meet the increased demand from AI data centers and domestic manufacturing. That is why the Working Families Tax Cuts created the Energy Dominance Financing Program, investing in projects that provide power 24/7, 365 days a year. “By ending costly subsidies for unreliable sources, such as wind and solar, and leveling the playing field for natural gas, coal, nuclear, and hydropower, Republicans are making sure America gets the ‘best of the above’ energy for a balanced, reliable grid to serve families and industry far into the future. “To be clear, it will take time for these policies to materialize into actual construction projects, but we have cleared some of the regulatory blockers that are allowing industry to start making these investments. We cannot go back to the policies that prioritized radical environmental agendas over families and brought higher prices, blackouts, brownouts, and a grid that cannot meet increased demand. “The people know better. Alongside our president, House Republicans are working to restore reliable and abundant energy, lower electricity costs, and restore America’s energy dominance.” ###