Darren Samuelsohn writes that renewable energy sector lobbyists aren’t having an easy time courting the Republican lawmakers who will be in power come January. That’s especially true for the nascent wind and solar energies which are struggling to keep grants grants and other boosts created in the stimulus

Republican leaders are critical of giving long-term life to the renewable sector, which is expected to get a short-term boost via the tax-extender package. Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, incoming chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said he’s skeptical of the rationale behind spending $10 billion a year over the past decade on subsidies for wind and solar power.

‘Since I am sure that the industry will never give up its free money voluntarily, now is the time for us to slash it on our terms,’ Upton wrote earlier this month in a Daily Caller op-ed.

Yes, wouldn’t it be horrible for an energy industry to keep free money indefinitely?

— Monica Potts

Monica Potts is a former senior writer at The American Prospect. She is working on a book about low-income women in her rural Arkansas hometown. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, New York, Vogue.com, The Daily Beast, The Trace, and Democracy.