The oil industry was a major donor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and it’s gotten a return on that investment. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” kills clean energy incentives, gives millions of dollars in tax breaks and handouts to fossil fuel companies and executives, and mandates new oil and gas lease sales on federal land.
But Trump isn’t the only politician in the pocket of Big Oil. The Republican lawmakers who supported that tax bill have also taken money from the fossil fuel industry—accepting more than $105 million in donations collectively, according to a recent analysis from environmental advocacy group Climate Power.
That’s even as the clean energy tax credits and other incentives in Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act sent more than $200 billion to Republican districts, bolstering their economies and creating thousands of jobs.
“Why did they vote to kill manufacturing jobs in their home-state energy industries and raise utility rates on their own constituents while sending their constituents’ tax dollars to oil and gas executives?” Climate Power asks in its analysis.
“The mystery isn’t hard to solve,” it continues. “These Republicans in Congress are caught red-handed taking massive donations from the oil and gas industry, and voting to give them billions and to destroy their competition from their own state’s clean energy industries.”
All but two Republican House members and three Republican Senators voted to pass Trump’s budget bill. The Climate Power report, which was first published in the Guardian, tallied up how much those supporters have received in donations from the fossil fuel industry over their entire careers. Republican House members have accepted $54.4 million, the Guardian reports, and Republican senators $51.5 million.
More than $3 million from the oil industry has specifically gone to 15 Republicans whose states have major renewable energy sectors. These 15 lawmakers all backed Trump’s budget bill—risking nearly 112,000 clean energy jobs in their states.
Michigan, for example, is a hub for the battery sector, which was heavily supported by the Inflation Reduction Act. Representative Bill Huizenga has taken more than $200,000 in oil and gas contributions.
In Arizona, a prominent state for solar power, three representatives—David Schweikert, Eli Crane, and Juan Ciscomani—have collectively accepted more than $500,000 in donations from oil and gas companies.
In Iowa, more than 60% of the state’s electricity came from wind energy in 2024. Wind is an industry that Trump has had particular ire for. And Iowa Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meek and Zach Nunn have accepted about $230,000 and $130,000 in oil and gas contributions, respectively.
Big Oil has been lobbying politicians for decades, but the industry has found a prominent supporter in Trump. While campaigning for his second run at the presidency, he invited oil and gas executives to his Mar-A-Lago estate, promising them benefits if they donated $1 billion to his efforts.
Though Trump ultimately didn’t receive that massive total, the oil and gas industry did still give: In the last election cycle alone, the industry spent $445 million to influence both Trump and Congress members, a previous Climate Power analysis found.
Since regaining control of the White House in January, Trump has led a uniquely damaging assault on the planet, giving free reign to polluters, rolling back dozens of environmental regulations, and freezing billions in funding to support clean technologies like solar farms and EV chargers.
No comments