A Bipartisan Competition Bill is Critical to Our Clean Energy Future

Over the last few years, Congress has delivered big bipartisan wins for climate change — the passage of the Energy Act of 2020 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signaled policymakers’ dedication to transforming our nation’s energy sector on a bipartisan basis. The competitiveness legislation currently under consideration is a significant opportunity to build on these successes by making additional investments in resilient energy supply chains, regional innovative communities, public-private partnerships, and the basic science underpinning energy technologies. Additional clean energy will be critical to widespread decarbonization technology implementation, which will help mitigate climate change, increase our global competitiveness, and bolster national security.

“If you step back, big picture, this is about competitiveness and harnessing the talent of our researchers, our entrepreneurs, and financial markets to ensure that we win this century. As a subset of that, one area that we have designated as a key area of applied research… will be advanced energy technologies… We all understand that these other technologies will become cost-effective at the consumer level, and we want to lead the way in the development of these technologies.” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) said during a BPC event last month.

For a review of the most impactful energy provisions in the competitiveness bills, check out our recent blog, Bipartisan Approach to Boosting U.S. Competitiveness Through the Department of Energy.

As Congress embarks on conferencing the different versions of competitiveness legislation, below is an overview of the key climate and energy provisions in the Senate’s United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 (USICA) and the House’s America COMPETES Act of 2022 (COMPETES).