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By Steve Mollman
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President Donald Trump said he was “100 percent” behind a bipartisan energy permitting bill advancing in the Senate on Monday but balked at its inclusion of wind turbines.
“The permitting bill is a great bill that's supposed to be bipartisan. We are behind it 100 percent,” Trump told reporters.
Asked whether he would help whip votes for the legislation in the House, Trump said, “Well, we may see, but the Democrats want that—I mean, maybe they've changed—but they wanted it as much as the Republicans."
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After a reporter said that wind provisions were part of the bill, Trump added: “I know, but I won't approve it. Well, the bill hasn't been fully negotiated. I will not approve wind turbines because wind turbines are a major loser.”
Trump’s comments came as the Senate moved ahead with consideration of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, a sweeping package intended to speed the approval of energy and infrastructure projects.
The exchange highlights an unresolved issue in the bipartisan permitting negotiations, which have unfolded as Trump has aggressively targeted wind power.
A White House official told Newsweek that Trump “stands 100% behind the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act” and had reiterated his support Monday.
“The White House has been working in good faith with Senate Democrats for months to get this bill passed which will unleash American energy and lower costs,” the official said Monday. “The time for permitting reform is now.”
Newsweek also contacted the offices of Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, two of the bill’s four lead negotiators, for comment on Trump’s remarks and whether they could affect the legislation.
What Is the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act?
The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act was introduced in September by Whitehouse, Heinrich, and Republican Senators Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Mike Lee of Utah. The bill would overhaul federal permitting and environmental-review processes for energy and infrastructure projects.
Its provisions cover areas including transmission, natural gas, oil, geothermal, hydropower and renewable-energy projects. An analysis by the Environmental Policy Innovation Center identifies provisions affecting both onshore and offshore wind, as well as solar energy.
The legislation has also emerged as one of Congress' first attempts since the midterm elections to address growing concerns about data centers and electricity costs. It would require large data center operators to shoulder more of the costs of transmission and grid upgrades needed to serve them, while including protections intended to prevent other utility customers from being left with those costs if projects fail.
The legislation is designed in part to make federal permits more durable, accelerate environmental reviews and make it easier to construct energy and other major infrastructure. Republican supporters have emphasized regulatory reform, while Democratic backers have highlighted its potential to speed clean-energy development.
The four lead senators released a substitute amendment on Saturday following feedback from lawmakers, environmental and labor groups and Tribal leaders. In statements announcing the revised measure, Whitehouse said it could “juice the clean energy economy,” while Capito said it preserved the foundation of the bipartisan agreement.
Whitehouse told Reuters that the legislation would allow Democrats to immediately begin delivering on campaign promises involving affordability and data center accountability. “We'd be silly not to take this win,” he said.
But its passage is far from assured. Some Democrats and environmental groups argue that the legislation weakens environmental protections or makes it easier to build data centers and fossil-fuel infrastructure. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said the bill needs greater input from House Democrats, while Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has called for a different permitting agreement after his party's midterm victories.
The Senate voted Monday to proceed with consideration of the legislation, moving the permitting overhaul another step forward.
Trump’s Opposition to Wind Energy
Trump’s objection to provisions affecting wind energy in the permitting package comes after months of efforts by his administration to restrict or reconsider wind-energy development.
In October, Trump issued a proclamation declaring that imports of wind turbines and their components threatened U.S. national security, citing a Commerce Department investigation that raised concerns including cybersecurity vulnerabilities, radar interference and U.S. reliance on foreign-made components.
The proclamation did not immediately impose new wind-specific tariffs. Instead, Trump directed the Commerce Department and U.S. trade representative to negotiate with foreign trading partners and report on their progress within 180 days, while leaving open the possibility of additional measures, including tariffs.
The proclamation also repeated Trump’s broader criticism of wind as an intermittent source of electricity, arguing that wind energy burdens the power grid.
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That action came amid an administration campaign against offshore wind projects. In October, the administration asked a federal judge to allow it to reconsider a major permit for the New England Wind project off Massachusetts, one of several offshore wind developments targeted by the administration.
Trump’s opposition to wind had already complicated negotiations over the permitting legislation. When the deal was announced in September, Whitehouse said Democrats were still seeking clarity on how it would prevent the Trump administration from blocking wind and solar projects. Whitehouse and Heinrich had accused the administration of a “reckless and vindictive assault on wind energy.”
Trump had also offered to ease his administration's holdup of renewable-energy projects as Democrats and Republicans negotiated the permitting agreement, but Whitehouse said in September that the issue remained “unresolved.”
Those concerns intensified in October. Whitehouse said at the time that the administration's actions risked undermining the deal, telling the Associated Press: “This is how you blow up a permitting deal.”
Trump has attacked wind turbines for years, criticizing their reliability, cost and appearance. That rhetoric has increasingly translated into federal policy since Trump returned to office, including moves to slow or reconsider offshore wind development.
Environmental Group Warns Democrats Over Trump, Wind Energy
Trump’s latest remarks immediately drew criticism from opponents of the permitting legislation.
“The Democrats supporting this bill are sleepwalking into catastrophe by handing Trump virtually unlimited power to further entrench fossil fuels and enrich data center tech oligarchs in the last two years of his presidency,” Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Newsweek on Monday.
“A week after voters overwhelmingly rejected Trump, it’s madness and political malpractice to turn around and give Trump a win that cements the decades-long Republican deregulatory agenda with sweeping giveaways to the richest corporations on Earth,” Hartl said.
“As Trump just admitted, he won’t stop his attacks on renewable energy and this bill won’t set the foundation for future climate success,” he added.
Hartl singled out Whitehouse and Heinrich, accusing the two Democrats of advancing an approach based on “a ludicrous belief that only free markets unencumbered by environmental safeguards will solve our problems.”
The Center for Biological Diversity has opposed the bipartisan legislation, while its Senate sponsors have argued that changes to the permitting system could make it easier to build clean-energy projects as well as more traditional energy infrastructure.
The divide underscores the political balancing act underpinning the legislation: securing enough Republican support for a broad permitting overhaul while convincing Democrats and environmental interests that the changes will accelerate, rather than undermine, the transition to cleaner sources of electricity.
Trump’s comments Monday may sharpen that debate as the Senate moves forward with consideration of the bill.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Edward T. Cummins
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