(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was called “the father of the modern wind industry” in his 2016 campaign ad which featured him in a hard hat atop an Iowa wind turbine. Now, the U-S House version of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill would significantly scale back or sunset tax credits on renewable energies, including wind and solar. In a conference call with Iowa reporters today (Tuesday), Grassley was asked if he’s comfortable with those changes that could kill future wind projects. Grassley says, “The reason that everybody has to be comfortable with almost anything in the bill is, we can’t let one issue stand in the way of preventing the highest tax increase in the history of the country without a vote of Congress.”

Frame from 2016 Grassley TV ad

Without the extension of earlier tax cuts, Grassley says taxes could rise by some four-and-a-half trillion dollars. As for the portion of the spending bill dealing with wind energy, Grassley says those incentives were doomed a decade ago and he managed to get them extended. He recalls several of his colleagues wanted to eliminate the wind energy tax credits in 2015. “So I worked with the wind energy people for a five-year phase out,” Grassley says. “That five-year phase out ended in 2021. Biden was elected president. Then we have the Green Energy Bill that passed and consequently, they went along with wind for a long, long period of time.” Grassley suggests he will again work to defend the wind energy industry and will seek out a compromise in the Republican megabill.

“Whatever we can compromise on wind, it’ll be similar to the compromise that I had in 2015,” Grassley says, “only by the end of the next compromise that would have gone on another 15 years beyond what I originally intended in 2015.”

Grassley says he’s proud that Iowa gets almost 60-percent of its power from wind energy. He’s hopeful the Senate can pass the spending bill before the July 4th recess.