Sponsors
The bill directs significant direct support—rebates for low‑income households, wage, health, education, and reemployment benefits for fossil‑fuel workers, community transition grants, and R&D funding—to ease the clean‑energy transition, but does so through new federally financed programs, expanded EPA authority, and market mechanisms that could raise costs, add administrative complexity, and leave some workers or communities undercovered.
Low‑income and eligible households receive quarterly clean‑energy rebates that reduce their energy bills; rebates are excluded from federal taxable income and States may coadminister with SNAP to simplify access.
Workers displaced from fossil‑fuel plants receive direct income and benefits: up to 36 months of wage‑adjustment payments, up to 36 months of health‑insurance premium support (covering 80% of employer premiums), VA‑Chapter‑33–comparable education benefits, and access to training, counseling, childcare, and other reemployment supports.
Local governments and tribal communities losing major tax revenue get temporary replacement payments and community transition grants (Community‑Based Transition Hubs) plus State administrative funding to maintain services and run local programs.
New mandatory rebate and fund programs are financed through Clean Air Act‑related revenues and expanded federal spending, which could impose indirect costs on taxpayers or regulated entities and create ongoing federal obligations.
Creation of an emissions‑allowance market introduces price risk: allowance price volatility or poor oversight could push up energy costs for consumers, offsetting some rebate benefits.
Program setup, regulatory development, outreach, and State coordination create substantial administrative complexity and timelines that could delay rebate and benefit delivery and produce uneven implementation across States.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Adds a new Clean Air Act Title, creates household clean‑energy rebates, requires NAS studies on transition impacts, and funds worker/community assistance (wage, health, education supports).
Creates a new Title in the Clean Air Act that brings new regulatory requirements under the Act into the same enforcement, inspection, citizen‑suit, and judicial‑review framework as existing Clean Air Act authorities. It also funds a DOE‑administered Clean Energy Rebate Program to deliver quarterly household rebates from specified Clean Air Act funding sources and establishes worker and community transition assistance administered by Labor and defined program rules for certification, wage adjustment, health insurance continuation, education benefits, and employment services for workers harmed by the transition. Requires the Department of Energy to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to study impacts on workers and communities of achieving net‑zero emissions, and directs the Department of Labor to certify affected workers quickly and provide up to 36 months of wage support, health‑premium assistance (80% of employer premium), and education and training benefits; sets administrative timelines, state partnership rules, and repayment/overpayment recovery rules.
Introduced December 19, 2025 by Paul Tonko · Last progress December 19, 2025