After Giving Millions to Trump, Big Oil Gets Huge Policy Wins
NEWS & RESEARCH
In April 2024, Donald Trump invited several oil industry executives and lobbyists to a dinner meeting at Mar-a-Lago. He challenged them to raise $1 billion for his presidential campaign. In exchange, he promised to adopt fossil fuel-friendly energy policies. The oil and energy industries kicked in nearly $450 million to Trump and his allies, including $96 million in direct donations to Trump’s presidential campaign and associated SuperPACs. In July 2025, Trump signed his “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The legislation gave the fossil fuel industry roughly $18 billion in new or expanded tax credits and incentives. According to one analysis, changes such as reducing the fees that oil and gas companies pay for drilling on public lands will allow them to keep as much as $12 billion. Similarly, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that delaying the penalties for methane emissions would save the industry about $1.5 billion.
SOURCES: New York Times | New York Times | Resources.org | Climate Power | Institute for Energy Research
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Critics asserted that Trump auctioned off federal policy to the fossil fuel industry. Current federal laws track and limit direct corporate contributions to candidates. However, after Citizens United, these laws still leave plenty of room for “dark money” and other contributions that are less easy to track. Additionally, current federal ethics regulations have serious gaps because the president is generally exempt from the strictest provisions. Many donors fall outside of the current system. Without the ability to track campaign and other donations, the American public will not know exactly whose money is influencing important policy decisions.
SOURCES: Brennan Center | Politico | Campaign Legal Center
HOW TO FIX IT
Federal action:
Pass the DISCLOSE Act of 2026 (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act of 2026), which would require tracking of dark-money spending, shell-company funding, and major donors behind political expenditures. The act would also trigger reporting requirements for groups or donors that spend more than $10,000 in an election cycle. It also includes stricter oversight of “hidden” donations by shell corporations and similar groups.
Support efforts to overturn Citizens United. Revive Citizens Over Corporations Amendment, sponsored by Sen. Adam Schiff and Reps. Joe Neguse, Jim McGovern, and Summer Lee, and Democracy for All Amendment, sponsored by Sen. Chris Van Hollen. Both of these bills, if adopted, would restore Congress’s ability to regulate corporate spending in political campaigns.
Direct the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to reconsider its opinion that outside groups and donors can function as campaign arms while claiming that they are independent.
Pass legislation and regulations that require real-time disclosure of the attendees and discussions at any fundraising events involving regulated industries and presidential candidates.
Urge Congress to expand the investigations by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden into the April 2024 Mar-a-Lago dinner and the $370 million tax benefit for Cheniere Energy into an industry-wide investigation. The investigation should consider whether Trump made express or implied promises to oil executives at the April 2024 Mar-a-Lago event and whether fossil-fuel donors received unusual access to White House or other executive staff, favorable tax treatment, or regulatory benefits after the 2024 election.
Legislation: H.R.7802 - DISCLOSE Act of 2026 | H.J.Res.13 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to the authority of Congress and the States to regulate contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections and to enact public financing systems for political campaigns | H.J.Res.54 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States providing that the rights protected and extended by the Constitution are the rights of natural persons only
