Roll Call Covers Thriving Economy Project
Democratic group lays out environmental, economic roadmap, sets template for economic and climate concerns in the next Congress
David Jordan
09/15/2026
Members of House Democrats’ Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition and its affiliated nonprofit released a set of policies on Tuesday to serve as a template to address both economic and climate concerns in the next Congress should their party make big midterm gains.
The SEEC Institute’s Thriving Economy Project is presented as “a policy blueprint designed to modernize the economy, charting a path towards growth and prosperity for all Americans.” The proposals include over 800 policy recommendations across nine chapters in areas including agricultural, supply chains, energy infrastructure, financial markets and governance.
The project was created with the recognition that even if Democrats win back both chambers, President Donald Trump will still be in the White House in January. It’s not intended to be a blueprint for a filibuster-proof reconciliation bill in all-Democratic Washington, said Max Frankel, the institute’s executive director.
“This is about what can we do on Jan. 4, what can we do to make concrete environmental progress in a divided government,” Frankel said in an interview.
“The report is not intended to sit on a shelf until the year 2029,” Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said at the project’s unveiling on Tuesday. “These ideas, we believe, represent the best of the United States, a vision of a clean and prosperous future where everyone benefits.”
Castor’s own reelection hopes rest on a knife’s edge after GOP-led redistricting in the Sunshine State; Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates her race Tilt Republican.
The institute’s recommendations, a product of research backed in part by Fortune 500 corporate donations, certainly fall short of what advocates for the Green New Deal — an ambitious and costly plan to wean the U.S. from fossil fuels — pushed unsuccessfully during the Biden administration years. It’s a set of smaller and less headline-grabbing policies that authors believe will eventually curb emissions while creating jobs.
The project recommends prioritizing federal financial and technical assistance for projects that retrofit and weatherize existing buildings to lower costs, and modernizing the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to provide assistance during both the coldest and hottest months.
It calls for establishing a national standard that would give each household two free hours of electricity per day, require that data centers disclose their energy and water use and the establishment of a transmission investment tax credit to hasten grid infrastructure build-outs.
And the governance section would attempt to limit future grant and funding cancellations similar to those the Trump administration enacted after taking office. This includes limiting the termination clauses in federal funding agreements so that it can only be for cause, and deploying funding to recipients with records of fiscal accountability instead of retaining these funds in Treasury accounts.