Stier: As 2025 winds down, we can’t forget the GOP’s economic sabotage

12-17-25 Op-Ed

As we approach the end of 2025, it’s tempting to let the constant stream of political chaos overshadow the calculated policy decisions that continue to devastate Pennsylvania’s economy. While headlines shift from crisis to crisis, the Republican budget reconciliation bill passed earlier this year quietly continues its destructive work – eliminating good-paying jobs, driving up costs for working families, and sacrificing Pennsylvania’s economic future to enrich billionaires and fossil fuel executives.
We cannot allow the passage of time or the distraction of daily political drama to obscure the immense damage this legislation has inflicted on Pennsylvania workers and communities. The consequences are real, they’re happening now, and they demand our attention.
The latest casualty: Mack Trucks in Macungie, Pennsylvania, just announced it is laying off 400 workers. This isn’t just another statistic – it is 400 families facing an uncertain future, 400 workers who built careers at a company that has been manufacturing trucks in the Lehigh Valley since 1905.
These layoffs are a direct result of the Republican reconciliation bill’s assault on clean energy manufacturing. Mack Trucks had been investing heavily in electric vehicle production, positioning itself at the forefront of the transportation industry’s evolution. But the reconciliation bill gutted the tax credits that made this transition economically viable, pulling the rug out from under companies that were doing exactly what we need for a competitive 21st-century economy.
Donald Trump claims to be a champion of American workers, yet his policies tell a different story. The Republican budget bill eliminates tax credits that have been the backbone of America’s clean energy jobs boom – a sector that has created hundreds of thousands of well-paying union jobs across the country.
The Inflation Reduction Act created powerful incentives for clean energy development, with additional bonuses for projects in “energy communities” – areas historically dependent on fossil fuel industries. Pennsylvania, with its legacy of coal and natural gas production, was perfectly positioned to benefit from this economic transition.
Projects that paid prevailing wages and hired registered apprentices received a fivefold increase in clean energy deployment tax credits. Now these vital tax credits are being phased out.
Ironically, Trump is hurting his own supporters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Of the approximately 400,000 new clean energy jobs announced nationwide since August 2022, most are in Republican-represented congressional districts. These jobs are now at risk due to the elimination of clean energy tax credits.
This is why unions have labeled the budget bill “the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country.” The IBEW warned: “Make no mistake, this bill will cost hundreds of thousands of good-paying construction jobs, billions of work hours, and hundreds of billions in lost wages and economic benefits to America’s middle class.”
When the Senate passed the Republican tax bill, LIUNA stated bluntly: “Today, the U.S. Senate voted to kill American jobs to line the pockets of the mega wealthy. This bill eradicates thousands of good-paying LIUNA jobs – jobs that were promised, planned, and already underway.”
The consequences of repealing these investments are severe. Hundreds of thousands of good jobs will move overseas. Our energy production will decrease, raising energy costs nationwide. Utility bills have already increased 10% nationally since Trump took office. Here in Pennsylvania, PPL Electric Utilities recently requested a $356 million rate increase, citing the need for “grid modernization” – an increase driven in part by growing electricity demand from data centers and over-reliance on natural gas.
To make matters worse, once the Medicaid and ACA cuts in the reconciliation bill take effect, we’ll see significant job losses in the growing healthcare sector. Pennsylvania alone is expected to lose approximately 60,000 healthcare jobs. This represents another wave of economic devastation for working families across the commonwealth.
The damage from the reconciliation bill is compounded by the chaos of Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies. His erratic approach creates deep economic uncertainty, making it difficult for industries to plan investments.
These tariffs increase costs for American manufacturers who depend on foreign-made components. They’re even driving up food costs by increasing transportation and fertilizer costs. Additionally, they intensify pressure on electricity costs by raising the price of steel and aluminum needed for energy infrastructure like pipelines and transformers. Both industry and consumers will suffer as utility companies raise their rates.
The Federal Reserve now faces a dilemma. It may need to reduce interest rates to counter the economic drag of Trump’s policies. However, doing so when tariffs and attacks on energy innovation are causing inflation could lead to the worst possible outcome: stagflation – a combination of inflation and economic decline.
Trump’s economic approach is uniquely destructive. It merges his preference for supporting the ultra-wealthy and opposing workers with his fixation on tariffs – a policy opposed by economists across the political spectrum. The result is a toxic mixture that undermines energy innovation, electricity production, and manufacturing while simultaneously increasing inflation for businesses and consumers alike.
Trump’s policies lack economic logic. Their purpose is purely political: rewarding wealthy Americans and fossil fuel companies. The Republican budget bill serves as another vehicle to give tax cuts to oil and gas billionaires while slashing funding for Medicare and food stamps, gutting energy development incentives, and raising prices for everyday Americans.
Mack Trucks’ layoffs represent just the latest example of how clean energy workers are being abandoned by Trump and Republicans. They’re clearly picking winners and losers in our economy – with oil and gas billionaires winning while the rest of us lose.
The Republican budget reconciliation bill isn’t just bad policy – it’s an economic disaster that will echo through Pennsylvania communities for years to come. From Allentown to Philadelphia, from healthcare facilities to manufacturing plants, working families are paying the price for tax cuts that benefit the wealthy few.
As we face the combined threats of clean energy job losses, healthcare sector cuts, rising utility costs, and tariff-driven inflation, one thing is clear: Pennsylvania workers deserve better than an economic agenda that sacrifices their livelihoods to enrich billionaires and fossil fuel executives.
As 2025 comes to a close, we must not let the daily churn of political news distract us from the fundamental question: will our elected officials stand with working families or continue to enable policies that destroy good-paying jobs while driving up costs for everyone else? Pennsylvania’s economic future hangs in the balance.
Marc Stier is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center.