Democrats plan to push clean energy to lower bills and challenge Trump’s
fossil fuel agenda
[November 09, 2026]
By JENNIFER McDERMOTT
Some Democrats are promising to push for more clean energy to help
tackle rising energy costs when they take control of Congress in
January, though President Donald Trump says he will use his veto power
aggressively.
With new majorities in the House and Senate after last week's midterms,
Democrats can set an agenda boosting clean energy and addressing climate
change. While those are traditionally core priorities of the party,
climate was not a central topic in this election cycle.
Democrats can begin investigations and hold hearings into climate policy
rollbacks and elimination of green energy grants by the Republican
administration, potentially trying to undo some changes and restore
renewable energy incentives.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works, said Trump’s clean energy
attacks drove up prices for taxpayers. He said Democrats will "work
every angle to lower consumers’ energy costs, and we will demand
accountability for the massive corruption wrought by Trump’s fossil-fuel
donors.”
American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet said everybody who is
trying to build clean energy “feels bolstered.”
Enacting major changes would require Republican support because
Democrats will lack the numbers to override presidential vetoes. Even
then, lower energy bills are not guaranteed because prices also depend
on fuel costs, demand and the expense of maintaining the electric grid.
“The wins give Democrats more leverage over spending and more political
power to advance a coherent agenda; the question is whether they’ll use
that power effectively,” said Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia
Center on Sustainable Investment. “The vote was for affordability and
opportunity. Democrats now need to be clear about which policies deliver
them.”
Trump holds veto power but thinks he and Democrats can deal
Trump said after Tuesday's election that Democrats will send over
“things that are insane” and he will veto them, speaking generally about
legislation. But in the comments to Fox News, he predicted that “after a
couple of months of vetoes,” he and Democrats will find ways to work
together.
The White House said in a statement Wednesday that Trump is "committed
to unleashing reliable, affordable, and secure energy sources to lower
prices, strengthen our grid, and protect our national security, and is
willing to work with anyone to accomplish this.”
Trump promised to lower energy prices. Instead, his war with Iran and
other policies increased the price of gasoline, diesel and electricity.
At the same time, the administration canceled many clean energy projects
and grants and slowed clean energy permitting.
Trump particularly dislikes offshore wind. Developer Orsted said
Thursday that Revolution Wind, a large wind farm in federal waters off
Rhode Island, has started operating commercially.
Will the president change his tune on green energy? That's doubtful,
said former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., co-chair of the government
relations practice at ArentFox Schiff.
“He is likely to keep pushing his energy issues, and I think he will be
forced to give some room for a new Congress to recreate a different
strategy that will add clean energy,” Dorgan said in an email.
Trump promotes expanding production of oil, natural gas and coal, which
cause climate change, because he argues that would give the U.S. the
lowest-cost electricity. Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum
Institute, the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group, said that as
voters have changed the balance of political power in Washington, “the
affordability message is unmistakable.”
Sommers said in a statement there is a real opportunity for bipartisan
cooperation to reduce costs and strengthen the economy, starting with an
energy permitting reform proposal announced in September. The Senate is
expected to hold a procedural vote Monday on the legislation, which is
aimed at shortening the timeline to get big energy projects started.
Ife Kilimanjaro, executive director of the U.S. Climate Action Network,
said Democrats should reject that proposal and use their stronger
position to pass legislation that actually builds out much-needed clean
energy.
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Solar panels generate electricity Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, near Boulder
City, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Reversing Trump’s anti-climate policies
The administration has reshaped the Environmental Protection Agency,
reversing pollution limits as it promotes fossil fuels.
Clear Street energy transition analyst Tim Moore said he expects
Democrats to investigate the climate and environmental rollbacks, in
an effort to block some from taking effect. Democrats could also try
amending the Clean Air Act to cut carbon pollution and push back
against EPA budget cuts, he added.
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said he is cautiously optimistic some
Republicans will now seek to differentiate themselves from Trump and
back pro-environmental policies. But without Republican support,
Democrats’ more ambitious bills will largely lay out their agenda
for 2028, he added.
Climate is not necessarily at the top of Democrats' list of
priorities. They are targeting healthcare access, trade tariffs and
the Iran war.
Rep. Frank Pallone, the New Jersey Democrat who is expected to
become chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the
party should focus on healthcare, affordability, consumer and
environmental protections, clean energy and regulating Big Tech.
A potential stalemate seen on clean energy and climate policy
David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at the
University of California, San Diego, largely expects a stalemate at
the federal level on climate and energy policy because of the
divided government. He said agreement could come on some bipartisan
measures such as a permitting overhaul.
Victor thinks Democratic-led investigations and hearings will center
on corruption and other topics that may only touch on energy and
climate. Like Casten, Victor said many of the Democratic bills
likely will not become law, but will outline what Democrats could
accomplish if they win the White House in 2028.
“The Democrats are going to be drafting things that the
administration’s not going to like. They don’t have the votes to
override a veto, and on top of it, the administration is going to be
in turmoil because of its own electoral failures and because of all
the investigations,” Victor said. “This seems to me, at the federal
level, largely a recipe for kind of intense chaos over the next two
years.”
One of the biggest wild cards is the behavior of the administration,
which could use executive power to double down on rollbacks of
climate and environmental rules, he said.
States could advance clean energy without waiting for Congress
Democrats scored victories in races for governor in states long
controlled by Republicans, including Texas and Georgia.
Leah Stokes, a political scientist at the UC Santa Barbara, said
there could be a lot of state action on climate next year because of
those wins. That is where climate leadership has traditionally come
from, she noted. At the federal level, Stokes is optimistic about
extending clean energy tax credits since some Republicans support
that.
Jay Inslee, a former Democratic governor and congressman from
Washington, also expects growing momentum for clean energy in states
that elected Democratic governors, particularly in states where they
also won legislative majorities.
“This is a really powerful instrument for the United States to join
the rest of the world and get back in a leadership position, even if
we still have a climate denier that might exercise a veto on some
things that we want to do federally,” Inslee said. “So I hope people
will pay attention to the big progress we’re going to make on a
state-level basis.”
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Associated Press writers Alexa St. John and Matthew Daly contributed
to this report.
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