Washington, D.C.—Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement after public reporting revealed the Trump Administration’s plan to cancel the Solar for All program.  Under the program, states, territories, Tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations across the country have already been obligated $7 billion for initiatives that lower household energy bills by expanding access to affordable solar energy. 

“Illegally pulling the plug on Solar for All is a betrayal of the American people that will further hike electricity costs and make our power grid less reliable.  Solar power is one of the fastest, cheapest ways to meet rising electricity demand.  Trump is—yet again—putting his fossil fuel megadonors first.  How much more must Americans pay to enrich the fossil fuel industry? 

“By making us more reliant on dirty fossil fuels, Trump is turbocharging climate change and pushing us closer to economic catastrophe.  Extreme weather is already driving up homeowners’ insurance premiums across the country.  Without access to affordable insurance, families can’t get mortgages.  Without mortgages, property values crash.  And when property values crash across the country, it sends shockwaves through the entire housing market.   We’ve seen this movie before, and we know how it ends. 

“Meanwhile, as Trump sabotages U.S. clean energy development—jeopardizing American manufacturing, security, and prosperity—China is investing billions to dominate the energy industries of the future.  Polluting gas, oil, and coal plants simply cannot be built fast enough to keep up with our needs—only renewable resources can.   Trump is so blinded by payback to corrupt fossil fuel interests that he is handing competitive advantage to China.”

Whitehouse has led colleagues in demanding answers from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin about the Agency’s lawless crusade to halt the distribution of legally obligated Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) grants, including the earlier freeze on Solar for All funding.  Tellingly, the lawmakers have received no substantive responses to those inquiries.  Administrator Zeldin gaslit the American public, fabricating claims of fraud in those programs without producing any evidence, and he lacks the legal authority to terminate agreements with GGRF grantees in all three programs absent a clear record of waste, fraud, or abuse—something multiple courts have said he has failed to provide.  Litigation against the Trump Administration for freezing and attempting to terminate certain legally obligated GGRF grants remains ongoing.