The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
While Arizona families are struggling to make ends meet, Donald Trump will likely use the platform of Tuesday’s State of the Union address to lie about his failing economic agenda. He’ll almost surely insist again that this is “the greatest economy, actually, ever in history.”
But let’s be clear: Trump and Republicans like Representative Juan Ciscomani are to blame for our country’s skyrocketing costs and cratering economy.
During her 2026 State of the State Address, Governor Katie Hobbs emphasized lower costs for Arizona residents, particularly the need to lower electricity costs. The Governor proposed the creation of “the Arizona Affordability Fund” to help households with high cost of utilities. The fund will also help families weatherize their homes to lower energy costs and pay utility bills.
Meanwhile, Trump has called the affordability crisis a “hoax” and a “con job,” and he and Republican members of Arizona’s congressional delegation have spent the last year implementing policies that will send already increasing energy prices through the roof. All this at a time when data centers and extreme weather are exacerbating demand, with no end in sight.
As of December, data centers that were planned or already under construction nationwide were expected to add 93 GW of electricity demand to the grid by 2029, accounting for over 14% of total U.S. power demand. At the same time, the number of outages tied to severe weather in the United States is increasing drastically, with 80% of all U.S. power outages reported from 2000 to 2023 caused by weather-related events.
Trump knows he has a problem on his hands and is trying to figure out who to blame. He proposes more costly, environmentally devastating giveaways to his donors practically every day. Handouts like opening more federal land for coal mining and using emergency powers to keep coal plants open, which could end up increasing power bills even more.
Clean energy provides the least expensive and quickest power source. In the first half of 2025, solar and wind energy generation in the U.S. outpaced electricity demand and generated more power than coal for the first time on record. This progress was due in large part to the Inflation Reduction Act and other energy policies that Trump has since clawed back.
Since Trump has taken office, his vendetta against clean energy has led to the cancellation or delay of six clean energy projects in Arizona and the loss of more than 8,000 jobs and $2 billion in lost investment. Arizonans are feeling the pain as their bills increase, and Trump continues to slash crucial energy options from the grid.
Last summer, Juan Ciscomani rubber-stamped Trump’s attacks on clean energy in the GOP’s tax law, voting to slash federal cost-saving programs that offered Arizona residents relief from rising energy costs. The law repeals clean energy tax credits that Ciscomani and other Republicans had previously asked House Speaker Mike Johnson to protect, noting that they had “spurred innovation, incentivized investment, and created good jobs in many parts of the country.”
Ciscomani knew better but still turned his back on Arizonans. The law he helped pass is expected to lead to 18,000 job losses in 2030 and 20,000 job losses in 2035, as well as increase Arizona families’ annual total energy bills by $140 by 2030.
Not only has Trump and Republicans' agenda been disastrous for the economic well-being of Arizonans, it’s also put our health and safety at risk. In the first year alone of his second term, Trump gutted 31 pollution protections. He slashed our federal disaster response funding and canceled funding for states to prepare for disasters — putting communities at risk and pushing the financial burden of recovery onto states and local communities.
With the midterms just around the corner, voters should take this opportunity to hold Ciscomani and other GOP lawmakers accountable. Trump and Republicans have hiked up our utility costs, cut clean energy options from the grid, slashed jobs in Arizona, and gutted pollution protections and disaster relief funding.
However many lies Trump tells about the state of our union, we can’t let this one slide.
