4 Dem senators say Trump should restore canceled green funds to earn trust for permitting reform bill

A group of Democratic senators is expressing distrust that the Trump administration will treat renewable energy fairly under a bipartisan permitting reform bill — and they are calling on the administration to restore climate funding it terminated for blue states.

Their letter to Democrats and Republicans who negotiated the bill represents a fracture in the Democratic caucus. It’s not entirely clear how widespread the sentiment is among Democrats, but if enough of them vote against the bill, it could hamper its chances.

Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Ed Markey (Mass.) wrote to several Democratic and Republican negotiators that “in seeking our support for BAAJA [the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act], you are asking every Senator to rely on informal assurances from a Trump administration that has proven to be an untrustworthy and erratic negotiating partner and demonstrated a willingness to ignore and violate the plain language of the law.”

“Beyond consideration of the actual text, the promise of BAAJA will only succeed if President Trump takes care that it is faithfully executed. The Trump administration’s record gives us no basis to assume that he will,” they added.

In their letter, the Democrats requested that, as a show of good faith, the Trump administration reinstate billions of dollars in funding it canceled for climate friendly projects in blue states.

“It would be compelling if, before the motion to proceed vote, the Trump administration directed DOE to 1) reinstate every award it terminated in October 2025 that it has not already restored, 2) to allow recipients to draw down those funds under the original award terms and 3) to commit in writing that it will not terminate an award because of the political identity of the recipient’s State or the party affiliation of its elected officials,” they wrote, referring to the Department of Energy.

“While such action may not fully address the wide range of concerns individual Senators have about various portions of this complex legislation, it would represent an important first step and carry far more weight with us and, more importantly, our constituents whose awards were illegally terminated, than mere informal assurances that the Trump administration will stop interfering with clean energy projects,” they added.

The Senate is set to consider the legislation, which would be expected to speed up the buildout for fossil fuel, renewable energy and other projects, including by curtailing certain environmental laws , upon return from its current recess. In fact, it’s expected to take a procedural vote on the floor on whether to advance the legislation fairly immediately upon its return in the lame duck session.

Previous efforts to pass similar legislation were ultimately unsuccessful, but the legislation appears to have at least some bipartisan support heading into its formal consideration.