Democrats tee up energy affordability debate with new bill
Source: Roll Call
Posted March 19, 2026 at 11:17am
House Democratic leaders of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition have introduced a lengthy bill aimed at navigating rising energy costs for American consumers. Reps. Sean Casten of Illinois and Mike Levin of California are leading the charge on the 419-page legislative effort unveiled Wednesday that they’ve dubbed the “Energy Bills Relief Act,” which takes aim at much of the Trump administration’s first-year efforts on energy policy.
“We had the president during the 2024 election say he was going to cut electricity bills in half, but in reality, they’ve gone up over 2025 roughly double the rate of inflation,” Levin said in an interview. “And I think it’s not enough to just be reflexively anti-Trump. If we’re going to talk about lowering costs, then we better have concrete plans to do so.”
Over the last 14 months, the administration has expanded the production and use of fossil fuels in the U.S. in an effort to achieve “American Energy Dominance,” and rolled back many previous incentives for development of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.The House Democrats’ bill would halt much of that effort. It would repeal portions of the July reconciliation law targeting renewable energy tax credits implemented under Democrats’ 2022 reconciliation package, and block the administration’s rescission of certain renewable energy grants.
Although the bill stands little chance of moving in the current Congress, Levin said it could have provisions that pass on a bipartisan basis this year. But ultimately, he said it’s an effort to prepare potential policy changes should Democrats gain ground after the midterm elections.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2026/03/19/democrats-tee-up-energy-affordability-debate-with-new-bill/
Link to BILL (PDF) - https://seec.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/seec.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/26.02.18-energy-bills-relief-act-bill-text_finalized.pdf