HR1 is definitely NOT going to lower your energy costs
More disinformation from Wittman's Propaganda Brigade
Rob Wittman really wants you to believe him when he says that burning dinosaurs will lower your energy costs. Like his tenure as our representative, it's just wrong. HR1 will increase your costs, not lower them! Also, there's an interesting "tell" in this message. Let's dive in…
First, let's be clear that Virginia is hurt by HR1:
$18.2bn in clean energy investments threatened (inc in Republican-led districts)
11,000 jobs at risk
Impact on major projects like Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW)
Damage to VA's efforts to become an offshore wind manufacturing hub
On the "tell": we think Rob's emails were written a while ago by Republican Propaganda Central. For example, he says HR3699 (Energy Choice Act) "awaits Committee consideration" but it passed committee a week ago! Clearly these messages are queued up in advance but being a WEEK out of date is negligence of the highest order. A bit like Wittman being out of date as a Congressperson, we guess!
As we've said before, Wittman consistently presents selective information favorable to fossil fuel interests while omitting significant negative impacts on renewable energy development and job creation, and potentially higher consumer costs. This message is no different. We'll go claim by claim to make this easier.
Claim: "HR1 will lower the cost of energy." This is unsubstantiated and likely false. HR1 expands fossil fuel leasing on federal lands, eliminates clean energy tax credits, and implements tax cuts. So Wittman believes increasing the SUPPLY of fossil fuels will lower prices. But he ignores that energy markets are influenced by global pricing, refining capacity, distribution costs, and market speculation. Prices *might* come down but...
...the impact of removing tax credits will likely increase residential electricity costs in Virginia by 5.4%! So if the point was to lower prices, why did Wittman and crew remove those credits? Answer: they care more about subsidizing fossil fuel companies than lowering your household expenses.
Claim: "HR1 improves cross-border energy infrastructure permitting." OUTRIGHT WRONG. HR1 doesn't contain anything about cross-border infrastructure permitting. That's in HR3062 (Promoting Cross-border Energy Infrastructure Act). That passed the House on 9/17/25 but hasn't passed the Senate. So Wittman's dreaming this all up (aka lying).
Claim: "HR1 strengthens U.S. energy security by supporting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve." This is misleading at best. The SPR is a reserve of fuel for use when prices are high or for a national emergency. It was tapped under Biden to lower prices. HR1 includes a provision to refill it. That's it! No "strengthening" or better "security" - just refilling the SPR, which would always have happened regardless of who was in the White House.
Claim: "HR1 provides investment certainty for building permitted energy projects." Only if those projects are for fossil fuels! Clean/renewable energy is ignored, with real consequences for consumers: in #VA01 alone, nearly 70 clean energy projects worth $18.2bn and creating 11,000 jobs are now threatened because of this provision. Rob sacrificed VA01 jobs on the altar of fossil fuel profits.
Claim: "HR1 restores immediate expensing for research and development." This one's really cute: in Trump's first term, the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act removed the ability for companies to fully expense R&D. HR1 restores that ability. So Trump cut it (with Wittman's support), HR1 restores it (with Wittman's support), and Wittman claims it's a win for all of us. Classic Republican "Solve the problem they themselves created" nonsense. Don't fall for it!
Other things in the message are outdated or simply wrong. It's a litany of blithering lies and falsehoods. It's like Wittman is a gardener given seeds of truth and determined to grow plants of deceit. He's choosing to try and spin all of this in his favor. We aren't fooled!