Energy policy is back at the center of congressional debate as the U.S. faces an increasingly complex energy landscape. Electricity demand is growing after a two-decade pause, due in part to new datacenters, reshoring of manufacturing, and a general rise in electrification across transportation, industry and other sectors. At the same time, electric supply buildout (i.e., new generation and transmission) has not kept pace with demand and is contributing to both higher electricity bills as other geopolitical factors including the war with Iran are raising national security concerns and exacerbating inflationary concerns. Against this backdrop, dozens of bills have been introduced in the 119th Congress, aimed at lowering energy prices, increasing national security and supporting industrial innovation.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), enacted in July, 2025, included substantial changes to the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA’s) clean energy incentives. Among the changes were reductions in funding for IRA grant programs and accelerated phase outs for tax credits supporting the deployment of solar and wind generated electricity, as well as clean hydrogen and electric vehicles have meaningfully impacted the energy sector. At the same time, tax credits for clean firm power including nuclear, geothermal, and energy storage technologies were maintained. Those changes help define the landscape in which Congress is now debating how to meet rising demand, keep energy affordable and maintain momentum for scaling domestic energy production. Here’s the breakdown.
Permit and Build
It takes too long to build transmission lines in the U.S., at a time when that buildout is critical to meeting rising electricity demands. However, projects across the nation are falling victim to delays in construction and operation due to the current permitting process. It regularly takes more than 4 years to get an answer on a federal permit (with many permits taking significantly longer), significantly increasing costs; a single year of delay on a $1 billion transmission line costs American consumers $150 to $370 million in lost benefits.
During the 119th session, there has been a slew of permitting reform bills including the CERTAIN Act, FREEDOM Act, and SPEED Act introduced with goals of adding predictability and streamlining timelines for environmental reviews within the federal permitting process. Other proposals, including the SECURE Grid Act, GRID Power Act, and REWIRE Act all call for transmission tech upgrades, transformer supply fixes, and FERC staffing with the goals of building a grid that can handle the rising demand.
Critical Minerals
China currently controls 70% of global refining capacity for the minerals that your phone, rechargeable batteries, and computer microchips depend on, creating meaningful economic and energy security risks. That is the backdrop for proposals including the SECURE Minerals Act and DOMINANCE Act, both of which fast-track domestic mining, leasing, and processing. The underlying goal in this conversation is to reduce U.S dependence on mineral capacity as a strategic necessity.
Data Center Power Demand
The average data center has power usage equal to the sum of 100,000 homes, which adds a new and large strain to the power grid. Energy consumption among AI and hyperscale data centers has grown 12% each of the past five years. Data center conversations across the country range from calls for moratoriums to arguments over the national security imperative of staying competitive the global technology race.
While the debate continues, the electricity demand that comes with the desire for new data centers opens the door to potentially scaling up and utilizing additional solar, wind, gas, battery storage, nuclear, and other clean sources for power. This can present a unique generational opportunity to enable data centers being a driver of accelerated clean energy deployment. Even the rapid buildout of natural gas to power data centers faces constraints that policymakers are working to address through many of the legislative proposals detailed here.
The Bottom Line
These policy debates largely breakdown into a discussion about how fast and how affordably the US can build the energy we need for households and domestic industries. The next Congress surely will not start from scratch as these challenges will undoubtedly carry into 2027, irrespective of the new congressional makeup. The question now becomes: Will policymakers make progress on these issues in the 119th Congress, and what challenges will the incoming 120th Congress need to prioritize?