TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Sara Chieffo, VP of Government Affairs, League of Conservation Voters
MEMO: Bringing the Receipts: One Year of Higher Costs Under Trump and Congressional Republicans’ Control of Washington

Across the country, families are paying more. For electricity, for insurance, for health care, for housing…the list goes on. These rising costs aren’t abstract, and they aren’t accidental. They are the result of a series of policy choices that have shifted the costs of dirty energy, pollution, and climate damage onto families, workers, and taxpayers, while handing out gifts and giveaways to polluters.

Below are a number of prime examples of how President Trump and Congressional Republicans are driving up costs for families and wreaking economic havoc across the country. You don’t have to just take our word for it — you can read the receipts for yourself. 

Families are Paying Higher Monthly Energy Bills

THE RECEIPTS:

• Despite Trump’s pledge to cut energy prices in half, household electric bills are up 13% and residential gas prices are up nearly 60%.
• Utility companies have raised or proposed $85.8 billion in rate hikes on American families.
• One in six households is now behind on their electric or gas bills.

How Trump and Republicans got us here: 

• Trump’s and Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) —better known as the Big Ugly Bill– gutted the policies driving the clean energy manufacturing resurgence that was creating safer, more affordable electricity for households. It also slashed tax credits for EVs and energy-efficient appliances, wiped out rooftop solar, and rescinded community loan programs, among other rollbacks — all of which were helping communities and families generate cheaper power while saving them money. 
• The Big Ugly Bill also restricted eligibility for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding, just after Trump fired the entire LIHEAP staff.
• President Trump has repeatedly attempted to unilaterally shut down major clean energy projects. Just last month, the Trump administration arbitrarily halted construction on five fully-permitted offshore wind projects, like Revolution Wind, which was slated to bring cleaner, cheaper energy to 350,000 hundreds of thousands of homes this year and is more than 85% complete. Interior Secretary Burgum has effectively ground to a halt most solar and wind projects and is bending over backwards to put in place hurdles and barriers to clean energy projects. Half of all new electricity planned to be added to our grids by 2030 is at risk, thanks to the Trump administration and congressional Republicans.
• On the other hand, the Trump administration is using every tool it has to advantage expensive, polluting and risky fossil fuels. One of the clearest examples of this is forcing expensive and polluting coal plants to continue to run, including Michigan’s aging Campbell coal plant that is costing consumers $615,000 each day. Outdated, dirty, costly coal plants in Colorado, Indiana, and Washington have also been forced to keep running. Keeping expensive, dirty energy online while cutting off new sources of clean energy is a double punch for rising energy costs. 

Major Industries are Suffering and Jobs are Being Lost

THE RECEIPTS:

• 165,000+ clean energy jobs have already been lost or stalled. By 2030, that number is projected to be 760,000. 
• $53 billion in private investment in clean energy projects has been canceled or delayed.
• General Motors, the largest U.S. automaker, recorded a $7.1 billion loss at the end of 2025 as it scaled back its EV investments.
• Public lands, the backbone of the trillion-dollar outdoor recreation economy, are understaffed and under threat. 

How Trump and Republicans got us here: 

• The Big Ugly Bill gutted clean energy manufacturing, pulling the rug out from under multiple industries that were creating good-paying jobs across the country. 
• The Trump administration has also halted major clean energy projects that were already underway, and stalled those planned, killing jobs and freezing private investment.
• While energy companies seek solutions to make permitting more efficient, the Big Ugly Bill also slashed funding that was helping federal agencies process permits more quickly and effectively–in 2024 the Department of Energy had cut review timelines in half and now that progress has been lost. 
• EV tax credits were eliminated in the Big Ugly Bill, raising vehicle costs by $7,500 and stalling one of the fastest-growing sectors of U.S. manufacturing.
• The Big Ugly Bill opened up millions of acres of our public lands to oil and gas drilling, just as the Trump administration weakened conservation protections and gutted National Park Service staff by nearly 25%. Treating our public lands as a disposable resource for fossil fuel executives and other polluters puts the future of our outdoor recreation economy and millions of jobs at risk.

Pollution and Climate Change are Driving Up Health Costs

THE RECEIPTS:

• Health care costs are skyrocketing, especially for low income families, losing subsidies or getting kicked off Medicaid.
• Increased pollution is putting 30,000 lives at risk each year and is projected to cost American taxpayers around $275 billion annually.
• Extreme heat is on the rise, increasing both worker injuries and asthma-related hospital visits for children. 
• Record climate disasters are overwhelming hospitals and emergency care systems, driving up costs even more.

How Trump and Republicans got us here: 

• Trump’s EPA weakened key pollution safeguards that save families money, including fuel economy standards, curbs on toxic air pollution,  and power plant emission limits. Trump’s EPA even just announced it is no longer going to estimate the benefits of saving lives or reducing asthma and other diseases when reducing pollution. This means they are knowingly hiding the human toll from their rollbacks of environmental and public health protections. At the same time, the Big Ugly Bill slashed funding for pollution cleanup and environmental monitoring programs. 
• Trump’s EPA also closed all of its environmental justice offices and cut $1.7 billion in environmental justice grants, further endangering the health of frontline communities already overburdened by pollution and climate change. 
• Just as pollution protections are being rolled back, the Big Ugly Bill dramatically expanded oil and gas drilling on our public lands, making it easier for the fossil fuel industry to rake in more profits while ignoring public health. 
• In another gift to polluters, the Trump administration and House Republicans are drastically narrowing protections under the Clean Water Act, jeopardizing our drinking water and community health.
• The Trump administration continues to approve or weaken protections against PFAS and other “forever chemicals,” allowing these toxic substances to contaminate our water and increase long-term health risks for families. And the Big Ugly Bill attempted to slash the funding available to veterans sickened by exposure to toxic chemicals mandated by the bipartisan PACT Act.

Taxpayers are Paying More for Bigger Climate Disasters

THE RECEIPTS:

• In 2025, there were 23 billion-dollar climate disasters, making it one of the costliest on record.
• Climate damages are now costing taxpayers upwards of $1 trillion per year.
• Meanwhile, the fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis are slated to receive nearly $35 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies each year.

How Trump and Republicans got us here: 

• The Big Ugly Bill was a sweeping rollback of clean energy and climate action, all but guaranteeing that climate disasters will be more destructive and more expensive for communities and families. Their signature legislative achievement and Trump administration’s rollbacks of environmental protections and handouts to polluting industries have already increased climate pollution in 2025 over 2024.  
• Meanwhile, Trump’s Justice Department is taking unprecedented action to block states, cities, and Tribes from suing Big Oil for climate damages, ensuring that taxpayers continue to shoulder the trillion-dollar burden of climate change. 
• The Trump administration’s attacks on weather forecasting and climate science at NOAA and the National Weather Service are eroding the emergency alert systems that save lives and lower disaster recovery costs.
• The Trump administration has slashed already-promised support to rural communities to avoid and be more resilient in the face of extreme weather disasters, cancelling FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

Homeownership is Becoming More Expensive — and Riskier 

THE RECEIPTS:

• Across the country, home insurance premiums are up nearly 10% since 2023, with some homeowners paying close to a fifth of their income on premiums.
• Insurers are even pulling back coverage in high-risk states like Florida and California.
• The first half of 2025 was the costliest period ever recorded for extreme weather, which has destroyed homes and entire communities. 

How Trump and Republicans got us here: 

• Even with climate disasters and insurance premiums on the rise, the Big Ugly Bill rolled back climate resilience and coastal restoration, leaving homes more exposed to flooding, storms, and destruction.
• The Trump administration is also trying to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and provide less money to families and states and local governments that are more frequently and severely impacted by fossil-fueled extreme weather events like extreme heat, drought, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. 
• When disaster strikes, Trump’s tariffs on key construction materials are raising the cost to rebuild homes, causing already skyrocketing premiums to rise 38% faster than previous years.  
• Trump’s DOGE took a sledgehammer to weather forecasting and climate science at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service, giving families less warning and less time to protect their homes from extreme weather events.
• In a gift to polluters, the Trump administration is also planning to dramatically expand offshore drilling, putting coastal communities at even greater risk of devastating oil spills and costly pollution. 

So, Who IS Winning under Trump and Congressional Republicans? 

Not families. Not workers. Not communities facing higher bills and bigger disasters.

It’s billionaires, Big Oil, and other big polluters. Between the Big Ugly Bill and Trump’s flurry of pro-polluter executive orders and windfalls, fossil fuel companies stand to gain millions of acres of our public lands, an additional $40 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies, and plenty of shortcuts to help them bypass our environmental and public health protections, among other handouts and giveaways.  

That’s not the future this administration should be fighting for. And it’s one we’ll never stop fighting against. We’ll keep pushing for a cleaner, safer, more affordable future that works for families and communities, not Big Oil billionaires.

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