AFL-CIO President on How GOP Budget Will Harm Energy Affordability and Kill Energy Jobs

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement on how the budget reconciliation bill will impact energy jobs and energy bills for working people:

It is unacceptable that an administration claiming to want to “unleash American energy” has pushed a budget bill through Congress in the dead of night that would rip away energy jobs, raise working people’s energy bills and crater our country’s prospects for global leadership in fast-growing new energy industries. 

If it becomes law, the House budget deal will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs in energy, manufacturing, mining and construction—and that’s on top of the 62,000 energy jobs that have already been lost, stalled or threatened as a result of this administration’s actions. It would raise the average household’s electricity bill by $110 a year, kill or cut back energy projects that would have powered more than 15 million homes, and slash a projected $600 billion in public and private construction investments that would have created high-wage union jobs and apprenticeships.

These devastating cuts would come at a moment when jobs and investments are most needed. Electricity demand is skyrocketing, driven by critical U.S. industries: artificial intelligence, manufacturing, and the electrification of buildings and transport. To keep costs down for America’s families, we need more energy, jobs and investment, not tax cuts for billionaires. 

Every member of Congress who voted for this bill put tax breaks for billionaires above good jobs for their constituents. It’s now on every senator who claims to care about America’s workers, our industries and our communities to reject this regressive, job-killing bill.

Contact: Prerna Jagadeesh, 202-637-5018