As affordability remains a key issue ahead of the midterms, a new scorecard from energy nonprofit Power the Future (PTF) shows how Congress performed on energy policy.
While Democratic policies that choke energy supply and mandate specific portfolios have been linked to higher electricity costs, Republicans are not immune from advancing policies that burden taxpayers. PTF’s analysis, first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, showed that Congressional Republicans including Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine earned some of the lowest scores on the “Federal Energy Scorecard” for GOP members.
“I think people who are in purple states or purple districts are petrified of their left, and so you do find some who have been a little bit weak because they are worried about getting primaried, challenged or losing on the left,” PTF Founder and President Daniel Turner told the DCNF. “It’s the easiest way for people who call themselves on the right to acquiesce, because you talk about the children and the future and the planet … It’s the easiest way to get Republicans to start to slip.”
“I’ve always called the Green Movement the slippery slope to socialism,” Turner continued. “No one caves initially on life issues or national defense, but it’s kind of easy to cave on legislation to support ‘climate awareness.’ That’s how they get you.”
The Republican lawmakers received various scores, with Fitzpatrick at -25/100, Tillis at 40/100 and Collins at 40/100. Other Republicans with lower scores, like Tennessee Rep. Matt Van Epps, were marked down due only to being recently elected.
“In our PTF Energy Policy Scorecard, Votes are assigned a score of 5 or -5 based on whether the bill helps or harms America’s energy workers,” PTF’s website notes. “In order to differentiate the most effective champions and dedicated adversaries of American energy dominance, we also added point bonuses for sponsoring and cosponsoring legislation, with legislation’s primary sponsor gaining +5 or -5, and cosponsors gaining +3 or -3 additional points depending on the bill.”
Turner told the DCNF that in the scorecard, PTF focused “exclusively on energy votes — votes that are for the American energy industry, American energy workers, and expanding energy.”
“We only score votes that have made it through the entire chamber,” Turner told the DCNF. “We don’t score committee votes — they’re not fair.”
Lawmakers were knocked down for voting against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which Trump has touted as a major victory for “energy dominance.” The OBBBA allocated billions for critical mineral spending, called for drilling opportunities across the country and essentially cut subsidies for green energy projects.
Splitting from their party to oppose the OBBBA counted against Tillis, Collins and Fitzpatrick’s final score. All three argued that they voted against the legislation over health care program cuts to better serve their constituents.
Failure to support other legislation like H.J.Res.104, H.J.Res.106 and H.J.Res.131Â counted against several Republicans as well, including Fitzpatrick, who voted against all three, and Collins, who voted against H.J.Res.131. Tillis did vote in favor of the resolutions, but was marked absent for other key energy votes, according to PTF.
All three were Congressional Review Acts used to undo Biden-era rules the leading lawmakers considered harmful to American energy, as they blocked future mining in a key U.S. region and locked up vital Alaskan resources.
Fitzpatrick was the lowest ranked Republican out of the House and Senate. The Pennsylvania lawmaker has argued that strong energy policy is vital for the economy and national security, but urged the Senate to improve the clean energy tax credits left in the OBBBA on June 6.
Critics of the green energy tax credits argue that they distort markets and favor less reliable resources at the taxpayer’s expense.
Three Democratic Congressmen tied for the lowest score of -70/100, including New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens and Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider.
“These Members tied for worst in Congress on energy and affordability, opposing domestic production, blocking infrastructure, and siding with policies that tighten supply and raise prices,” the PTF said. 110 Democrat House Members tied just behind them at -65/100.
Democrat states have some of the highest electricity rates in the country, a recent report from the Institute for Energy Research and Always on Energy Research showed. Conversely, 80% of the states with the most affordable electricity costs per kilowatt hour are “reliably red,” according to IER.
Generally, Democrat-led states have driven prices upward through pushing aggressive mandates and phasing out reliable power supply at an accelerated pace in order to prioritize climate goals, according to IER. Nonetheless, Democrats are set to make affordability a predominant campaign narrative headed into the midterms off the heels of wins in New York, Virginia and New Jersey that used that messaging.
“The biggest problem with affordability when it comes to the energy industry is that the effect is not felt immediately,” Turner told the DCNF, arguing that Trump’s energy policies are ultimately geared toward affordability, as opposed to former President Joe Biden’s.
While Biden vowed to close coal power plants, effectively axed the Keystone XL pipeline, froze liquified natural gas (LNG) exports and greenlit billions in subsidies for intermittent green energy projects, Trump has worked to reverse these policies. Notably, the Trump administration has worked to pull back Biden-era regulations that some energy experts warned would have hurt ratepayers and the reliability of the power grid.
The lawmakers with the highest scores included Republican Reps. August Fluger of Texas, Nick Begich of Alaska, Julie Fedorchak of North Dakota and Bob Latta of Ohio. The Republicans landed at 93/100, 91/100, and tied for 86/100, respectively.
PTF noted that Pfluger “led the charge to protect fracking,” Begich helped reverse the Biden-era restrictions through multiple CRAs, Fedorchak attacked “one of the biggest drivers of higher costs: permitting delays” and Latta “focused on grid reliability and refining capacity, two pressure points that directly drive energy prices for families.”
Fitzpatrick, Torres, Van Epps, Tillis, Collins, Stevens and Schneider did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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