‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy

  When congressional Republicans decided to cut some Biden-era energy subsidies to help fund their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they could have pruned wasteful subsidies while sparing the rest. Instead, they did the reverse. Americans will pay the price with higher costs for dirtier energy.

  The nearly 900-page bill that President Donald Trump signed on July 4, 2025 slashes incentives for wind and solar energy, batteries, electric cars, and home efficiency while expanding subsidies for fossil fuels and biofuels. That will leave Americans burning more fossil fuels despite strong public and scientific support for shifting to renewable energy.

5 facts to know about Medicare drug price negotiation

  For far too long, pharmaceutical companies have set astronomically high prescription drug prices in the United States, resulting in millions of Americans being unable to access the medications they need. In 2023, more than 80 percent U.S. adults believe the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable, with roughly 1 in 3 older Americans reporting that they cannot afford to take their medications as prescribed. The Inflation Reduction Act empowered the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), for the first time, to directly negotiate prices for select Medicare drugs. On August 29, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the first 10 Medicare Part D drugs that will be subject to price negotiation, with negotiated prices to take effect in 2026.

The most cost-effective energy efficiency investments you can make – and how the new Inflation Reduction Act could help

  Energy efficiency can save homeowners and renters hundreds of dollars a year, and the new Inflation Reduction Act includes a wealth of home improvement rebates and tax incentives to help Americans secure those savings.

  It extends tax credits for installing energy-efficient windows, doors, insulation, water heaters, furnaces, air conditioners, or heat pumps, as well as for home energy audits. It also offers rebates for low- and moderate-income households’ efficiency improvements, up to US$14,000 per home.

Will the Inflation Reduction Act actually reduce inflation? How will the corporate minimum tax work? An economist has answers

  The U.S. is about to spend US$490 billion over 10 years on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving health care, and reducing the federal deficit. Where’s all that money coming from?

  We asked University of Michigan economist Nirupama Rao to examine how the new law will raise enough revenue to pay for clean energy tax credits, Affordable Care Act subsidies, and incentives for manufacturers to use cleaner technologies, among other initiatives. We also wanted to know, given its name, will the Inflation Reduction Act actually bring down inflation?

Big new incentives for clean energy aren’t enough – the Inflation Reduction Act was just the first step, now the hard work begins

  The new Inflation Reduction Act is stuffed with subsidies for everything from electric vehicles to heat pumps and incentives for just about every form of clean energy. But pouring money into technology is just one step toward solving the climate change problem.

  Wind and solar farms won’t be built without enough power lines to connect their electricity to customers. Captured carbon and clean hydrogen won’t get far without pipelines. Too few contractors are trained to install heat pumps. And EV buyers will think twice if there aren’t enough charging stations.

Next US energy boom could be wind power in the Gulf of Mexico

  With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains US$370 billion for climate and energy programs, policy experts are forecasting a big expansion in clean electricity generation. One source that’s poised for growth is offshore wind power.

  Today the U.S. has just two operating offshore wind farms, off of Rhode Island and North Carolina, with a combined generating capacity of 42 megawatts. For comparison, the new Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma has 356 turbines and a 998-megawatt generating capacity. But many more projects are in development, mostly along the Atlantic coast.