Markus Andrews

As lawmakers look to enact a new legislative tax package, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is poised to see big cuts that experts say could put benefits at risk.
With the proposed changes, more federal food assistance beneficiaries would be subject to work requirements, while federal funding cuts would make it so states would be on the hook to pay more toward the program.

People shop at a grocery store in Brooklyn on May 13, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

As Republicans push forward with the “big, beautiful” tax bill, federal food assistance may see big cuts.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, may be cut about 30% under the terms of the bill, which would be the “biggest cut in the program’s history,” according to Ty Jones Cox, vice president for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, currently provides food assistance to more than 40 million individuals including children, seniors and adults with disabilities.
Yet cuts to the program proposed by the House — which would shrink the program’s funding by about $300 billion through 2034 — would put those benefits at risk.
“The House Republican plan would take away food assistance for millions who struggle to afford the high cost of groceries, including families with children and other vulnerable people with low incomes,” Cox said during a Tuesday webinar hosted by the CBPP, a progressive think tank.
The SNAP reform efforts come amid a broader effort to reduce waste and fraud in government programs. SNAP, like other government benefits, can be susceptible to improper or fraudulent payments.
The “one big, beautiful bill restores integrity to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said in a May 14 statement, through “long-overdue accountability incentives to control costs and end executive and state overreach.”

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Many Americans cite high food costs as a top economic concern, according to an April Pew Research Center survey. If new tariff policies are put into effect, that could prompt food prices to go higher.
Moreover, the proposed SNAP cuts come as some experts say the U.S. is facing higher recession risks. In previous downturns, every additional dollar spent on SNAP generates about $1.54 in returns to the economy, according to Elaine Waxman, senior fellow at the Urban Institute’s tax and income support division.
“People spend SNAP dollars right away, and they spend them locally,” Waxman said.
The proposed SNAP cuts would largely happen by expanding work requirements to qualify for benefits and by cutting federal funding for food benefits and administration and leaving it up to states to make up the difference.

Federal cuts would leave states with tough choices

The largest cut to SNAP would come from federal funding cuts to basic SNAP benefits ranging from 5% to 25% starting in 2028, according to CBPP.
It would then be up to states to find ways to make up for that benefit shortfall, which could include making it more difficult to enroll in the program or finding other localized cuts to the program, according to CBPP.
“The change in the bill that is most dramatic is asking states to share part of the benefit cost,” Waxman said. “That’s new; since SNAP was originated, the federal government has always paid the full cost of the benefits.”
Notably, it would also mark the first time in the history of SNAP that the federal government would no longer ensure children in every state have access to food benefits, according to CBPP.

In addition, the proposal also seeks to make it so states pay a larger portion of the program’s administrative costs.
How states may react to the changes may vary. In worst-case scenarios, some states could even opt out of the program altogether, according to CBPP.
However, Waxman said most states will likely try to protect benefits because they’re “so critical,” even though they are not legally obligated to offer the program.
“The vast majority, if not all, will try to do something,” Waxman said.
In addition to the benefits SNAP provides to individuals and families, it also provides an “integral” part of economies, Waxman said. In lower-income rural areas, for example, rural grocery stores that rely on SNAP customers would see food spending go down.
“It has all these ripples that will hurt a lot of people other than just the people who are on the program,” Waxman said.

Work requirements may cost families $254 per month

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., at the House Democrats’ news conference on Medicaid and SNAP cuts proposed by the Republicans’ reconciliation process.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Work requirements for SNAP already make it so certain individuals must work at least 80 hours per month to qualify for the program’s benefits. That includes individuals ages 18 to 54 who are able to work and who have no dependents. Current policy also limits SNAP benefits for certain individuals to three months within a 36-month period unless work requirements are met.
The proposed legislation would expand that those work requirements, according to the Urban Institute, by:

extending the requirements to households with children, unless they have a child under age seven;
expanding the work requirements and time limits to individuals ages 55 through 64;
limiting states’ flexibility to request waivers of the work requirement policies in high unemployment areas; and
reducing discretionary exemptions from the time limits that states may provide.

Expanded work requirements would affect 2.7 million families and 5.4 million individuals, according to a new report from the Urban Institute.
That includes 1.5 million families who would lose benefits entirely and 1.2 million families who would receive lower benefits. It also includes 1.8 million people, including 48,000 children, who would lose benefits entirely; and 3.6 million people, including 1.5 million children, who would receive lower benefits, according to the Urban Institute.
Families that lose some or all their benefits would lose $254 per month on average, according to the research. Meanwhile, families with children would lose $229 per month on average, the Urban Institute found. More

The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed the No Tax on Tips Act in a surprise vote.
This could boost momentum for the idea floated by President Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign.
If enacted, the legislation would create a federal income tax deduction of up to $25,000 per year, with some limitations.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at an event about the economy at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., January 25, 2025. 
Leah Millis | Reuters

The Senate this week unanimously passed the No Tax on Tips Act in a surprise vote, which could boost momentum for an idea floated by President Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign. 
If enacted, the legislation would create a federal income tax deduction of up to $25,000 per year, with some limitations. The tax break applies to workers who typically receive cash tips reported to their employer for payroll tax withholdings, according to a summary of the bill, which was passed by the Senate on Tuesday. 

To qualify for the deduction, there’s a $160,000 earnings limit for 2025. That limit would be indexed for inflation yearly.
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Currently, workers who receive cash tips of $20 or more monthly must report those earnings to employers, according to the IRS. Cash tips can include funds received directly from customers, tip-sharing from other employees or tips paid via credit card.

Lawmaker support for a tax break on tip income

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris both called for no tax on tips during appearances in Nevada.
The bill advanced by the House Ways and Means Committee last week also includes a no tax on tips provision. If enacted, workers could deduct all “qualified tips” from 2025 through 2028. Tips must be reported to qualify for the deduction. However, this could still change before the full House floor vote.

“Whether it passes free-standing or as part of the bigger bill, one way or another, no tax on tips is going to become law and give real relief to hard-working Americans,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., said from the Senate floor on Tuesday. 
Cruz introduced the bipartisan bill in January with Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada.

Who benefits from no tax on tips

In 2023, there were roughly 4 million U.S. workers in tipped occupations, representing 2.5% of all employment, according to estimates from The Budget Lab at Yale University.
“This is a very narrow subset of the workforce,” said Alex Muresianu, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation. 
Tipped occupations include jobs in restaurants and hotels, as well as courier services like taxis, ride-shares and food delivery services, he said.
What’s more, a good chunk of tipped workers are part-time employees, and they wouldn’t see a significant benefit from a tip exemption, he said. Many such workers already don’t pay federal income tax because their earnings fall under the standard deduction.
“For the lowest income tipped workers, it provides no marginal benefit” Muresianu said. “It would benefit moderate to middle income workers substantially.”

Policy ‘clearly violates some principle of fairness’

A no tax on tips policy could create several issues, Muresianu said.
For example, there could be the introduction of tips in new occupations, or a shift in compensation in already tipped occupations toward a greater reliance on tips. It’s also possible that income could be misclassified as tips to take advantage of the tax benefit, he said.
“It’s tough to model or project because tipping is a social behavior, not strictly an economic transaction,” Muresianu said.

From a general economic standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to treat one type of income earned in specific industries differently than another type of income, he said. Take, for example, a waitress and a retail cashier: Both earn $35,000, but the waitress makes $10,000 in tips, which would be tax exempt.
“Why does the cashier pay full income tax on her income but the waitress gets a very substantial tax exemption?” he said. “That clearly violates some principle of fairness.”

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House Republicans are expected to vote this week on a sprawling tax package that would fulfill some of President Trump’s campaign promises.
A $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles and tax breaks for home efficiency projects are among the clean-energy tax breaks poised to be terminated after 2025.
Consumers should buy in 2025 while the credits are still available, experts said.

A visitor waves an American flag near the U.S. Capitol, as the U.S. House of Representatives considers U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 19, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters

A tax package House Republicans may pass as soon as this week would kill a slew of consumer tax breaks tied to clean energy, as currently drafted. If it becomes law, households interested in the tax breaks may have to rush to claim them this year, experts said.
Tax breaks on the chopping block include ones for consumers who buy or lease electric vehicles, and others for households that make their homes more energy-efficient.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, which made historic investments to combat climate change, created or enhanced those tax breaks.
Most would be terminated after 2025, about seven years earlier than under current law.
“Based on the existing proposed language, if you’ve been considering an EV or planning to get one, now is the time to do it,” Alexia Melendez Martineau, senior policy manager at Plug In America, wrote in an e-mail.

Termination of EV tax credits

Halfpoint Images | Moment | Getty Images

Consumers who buy a new EV can claim a tax break worth up to $7,500. One for used EVs is worth up to $4,000. Car dealers can also pass along a $7,500 credit to consumers who lease an electric vehicle.
The House tax proposal would terminate these tax credits after 2025. The Inflation Reduction Act made them available through 2032.

A “special rule” would keep the $7,500 credit in place for some new EVs for an additional year, through 2026. However, it would only be available for new vehicles from automakers that haven’t yet sold 200,000 EVs. That would disqualify EVs from companies like General Motors (GM), Tesla (TSLA) and Toyota (TM).

About 7.5% of all new-vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2025 were EVs, an increase from 7% a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive. Tax credits for EVs have been available in some form since 2008, when George W. Bush approved them.
The Inflation Reduction Act made it easier for consumers to access the EV credit, by allowing dealers to issue the tax break to consumers upfront at the point of sale instead of waiting until tax season. Consumers who buy an EV in the near term would be wise to pick this option, experts said.
“We recommend taking the upfront rebate at the dealership, as it reduces the price you pay now and shifts liability to the dealer to manage getting the credit from the IRS,” Martineau said.

Axing home efficiency tax credits

Owngarden | Moment | Getty Images

House Republicans also aim to axe various tax breaks tied to making existing homes more energy-efficient.
These breaks defray the cost of projects like installing insulation, solar panels, heat pumps, and installing energy-efficient windows and doors, for example.
One — the energy efficient home improvement credit, also known as the 25C credit — is worth up to 30% of the cost of a qualifying project. Taxpayers can claim up to $3,200 per year on their tax returns, with the overall dollar amount tied to specific projects.
Another — the residential clean energy credit, or the 25D credit — is also worth 30% of qualifying project costs. It doesn’t have an annual or lifetime dollar, except for certain limits on fuel cells, according to the IRS.
They are currently available through 2032. (The 25D credit phases down to 26% for installations in 2033 and 22% for those in 2034.)
Both tax credits would be repealed after 2025 under the House bill.
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The 25C and 25D credits have been available in some form since 1978 and 2005, respectively, according to economists at the Haas Energy Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.
More than 3.4 million U.S. households claimed one of the credits in 2023, receiving more than $8 billion, according to the Treasury Department.
Experts recommend that consumers considering a home-efficiency project have it completed by year’s end to be able to claim a tax credit.
“If a homeowner was looking to take advantage of the 25C tax credit, under what is being proposed [by the House] they’d need to ensure their system was put in service this year,” said Kara Saul Rinaldi, president and CEO of AnnDyl Policy Group, an energy and environmental policy strategy firm.

The House tax bill may change

Republicans are eyeing the climate tax breaks as a way to raise money for a sprawling package that also extends measures from President Trump’s 2017 tax law and cuts taxes on overtime and tips, for example.
The House tax plan’s repeal or modification of clean energy credits — including those for EVs and home efficiency — would raise $707 billion over a decade, according to an analysis published Monday by the Penn Wharton Budget Model.
As drafted, the overall House bill would raise the U.S. deficit by a net $3.3 trillion over a decade, after accounting for spending cuts, Penn Wharton said.

Of course, the tax bill’s text may change.
There appears to be dissent from within House Republican ranks over various aspects of the bill. Some of the infighting is tied to the repeal of climate related tax breaks, which have been more popular among consumers than anticipated.
The Senate also needs to pass the measure before it heads to the president’s desk.
“Republicans are far from united, with deficit hawks pushing for greater deficit reduction, centrists objecting to steep welfare cuts and blue-state Republicans fighting for bigger State and Local Tax (SALT) exemptions,” Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note on Tuesday. More

Billy Long, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the IRS, answered questions before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats scrutinized Long’s Trump loyalties and career history, including ties to companies that pushed dubious tax credits.
If confirmed, Long would serve as IRS Commissioner for the remainder of the term through Nov. 12, 2027.

UNITED STATES – MARCH 31: Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., is seen during the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing titled Connecting America: Oversight of the FCC, in Rayburn Building on Thursday, March 31, 2022.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Senate lawmakers pressed President Donald Trump’s pick for IRS Commissioner, former Missouri Congressman Billy Long, about his opinions on presidential power over the agency, use of taxpayer data and his ties to dubious tax credits.
Long, who worked as an auctioneer before serving six terms in the House of Representatives, answered Senate Finance Committee queries during a confirmation hearing Tuesday.

One of the key themes from Democrats was Trump’s power over the agency, and Long told the committee, “the IRS will not, should not be politicized on my watch.”
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who provided her questions to Long in advance, asked whether Trump could legally end Harvard University’s tax-exempt status. If permitted, the move could have broad implications for the President’s power over the agency, she argued.
However, Long didn’t answer the question directly.
“I don’t intend to let anybody direct me to start [an] audit for political reasons,” he said.

Ties to dubious tax credits

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., scrutinized Long’s online promotion of the pandemic-era employee retention tax credit worth thousands per eligible employee. The tax break sparked a cottage industry of scrupulous companies pushing the tax break to small businesses that didn’t qualify.
“I didn’t say everyone qualifies,” Long said. “I said virtually everyone qualifies.”
Senators also asked about Long’s referral income from companies pushing so-called “tribal tax credits,” which the IRS has told Democratic lawmakers don’t exist.
“I did not have any perception whatsoever that these did not exist,” Long told the committee.
Senate Democrats also raised questions about donations people connected to those credits made to Long’s dormant Senate campaign, after Trump announced his nomination to head the IRS.

Direct File ‘one of the hottest topics’

While Senate Democrats grilled Long on his record, Republicans focused on questions about taxpayer service. Several Republican lawmakers voiced support for Long, including the committee chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. 
If confirmed by the Senate, Long could mean a shift for the agency, which previously embarked on a multibillion-dollar revamp, including upgrades to customer service, technology and a free filing program, known as Direct File.
When asked about the future of Direct File, Long said he planned to promptly examine the program, describing it as “one of the hottest topics at the IRS.”

‘An unconventional pick’

Since former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel’s resignation in January, there have been three other leaders for the agency. If confirmed, Long would serve as IRS Commissioner for the remainder of the term through Nov. 12, 2027. The date for the vote isn’t yet confirmed.
Mark Everson, who served as IRS commissioner from 2003 to 2007, described Long as “an unconventional pick,” compared with the experience profiles of previous IRS leaders. 
But Long’s years in Congress will provide “credibility up on the Hill with the people who matter, which will be important,” Everson, who is currently vice chairman at Alliant, a management consulting company, previously told CNBC.
Long may be in a “better position than others to argue for the appropriate independence of the agency,” he said. More

In a recent court filing, the Education Dept. disclosed that more than 1.98 million income-driven repayment plan applications were pending as of the end of April.
These plans cap student loan borrowers’ monthly bills at a share of their discretionary income with the aim of making their payments manageable.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called the backlog “outrageous and unacceptable.”

franckreporter | Getty Images

Nearly 2 million federal student loan borrowers who’ve requested to be in an affordable repayment plan are stuck in a backlog of applications, waiting to be approved or denied, according to new data recently shared by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Education Department disclosed the information in a May 15 court filing in response to a legal challenge lodged by the American Federation of Teachers. The teachers’ union sued the Trump administration in March for shutting down access to income-driven repayment plan applications on the Education Department’s website.

IDR plans cap borrowers’ monthly bills at a share of their discretionary income with the aim of making their payments manageable.
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In late March, the Trump administration made the online applications available again, and said that it pulled the forms because it needed to make sure all repayment plans complied with a court order that blocked the Biden administration’s new IDR plan, known as SAVE, or the Saving on a Valuable Education plan.
Trump officials argued that the ruling had broader implications for other IDR plans, and it ended up removing the loan forgiveness component under some of the options.
The backlog complicates things for borrowers as the Trump administration restarts collection activity. The Education Department estimates that nearly 10 million people could be in default on their student loans within months.

Without access to an affordable repayment plan, student loan borrowers can be suspended on their timeline to loan forgiveness and at risk of falling behind and facing collection activity.

‘The opposite of government efficiency’

In the May court document, the Education Department disclosed that more than 1.98 million IDR applications remained pending as of the end of April. Only roughly 79,000 requests had been approved or denied during that month.
Consumer advocates slammed the findings.
“This filing confirms what borrowers have known for months: Their applications for loan relief have effectively been going into a void,” said Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.
The Center said that if the Education Department continued to move at its current rate, it would take more than two years to process the existing applications.

AFT President Randi Weingarten called the backlog “outrageous and unacceptable.”
“This is the opposite of government efficiency,” Weingarten said. “Millions of borrowers are being denied their legal right to an affordable repayment option.”

What’s behind the backlog

A spokesperson for the Education Dept. blamed the backlog on the Biden administration, saying that it “failed to process income-driven repayment applications for borrowers, artificially masking rising delinquency and default rates and promising illegal student loan forgiveness to win points with voters.”
“The Trump Administration is actively working with federal student loan servicers and hopes to clear the Biden backlog over the next few months,” they said.
The Biden administration put the student loan borrowers who’d enrolled in its new IDR plan, SAVE, into an interest-free forbearance while the GOP-led legal challenges to the program unfolded. Many of the currently pending IDR requests are likely from borrowers who are trying to leave that blocked plan to get into an available one.
Sarah Sattlemeyer, a project director at New America and senior advisor under the Biden administration, said that the current backlog began last year “and has existed across both the Biden and Trump administrations” as a result of the legal battle over the SAVE plan.
“It is a demonstration of how complicated the loan system is, how much uncertainty there has been over the last few years and what is at stake,” Sattlemeyer said. “There also isn’t clarity around how some applications in the backlog should or will be handled, such as those where a borrower chose an option that no longer exists on the application.”

In recent months, the Trump administration has terminated around half of the Education Department’s staff, including many of the people who helped assist borrowers.
That is also likely one reason why so many of the applications haven’t been processed, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“Perhaps the reduction in staff is affecting their ability to process the forms,” Kantrowitz said. More

The delinquency rate for student loan balances spiked after a nearly five-year pause due to the pandemic, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Now millions of borrowers are at risk of falling behind on other debts as they struggle to keep up with payments.

The Trump administration’s resumption of collection efforts on defaulted federal student loans has far-reaching consequences for delinquent borrowers.
For starters, borrowers who are in default may have wages, tax returns and Social Security payments garnished.

But involuntary collections could also have a “spillover effect,” which puts consumers at risk of falling behind on other debt repayments, according to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,

As collection activity restarts, disposable income falls

“We were obviously somewhat concerned about potential spillovers to delinquencies on other types of debt,” the New York Fed researchers said on a press call earlier this month.
“During the period where people were not required to make payments on their student loans, they could have used that money to pay their credit card bills and auto loans,” the researchers said. “Now they have to make these payments again on their student loans, so that could put pressure on their ability to pay these other loans.”
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The U.S. Department of Education’s crackdown on student loan repayments could take billions of dollars out of consumers’ pockets, reports show. Monthly collections on defaulted loans may reduce disposable personal income between $3.1 billion and $8.5 billion a month, according to research by JPMorgan.

“Part of the reason that some people are adding to credit card debt is because they have student loan payments — that’s the spillover effect,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate. “Something’s got to give.”

‘It’s just money that can’t go to other financial things’

Until earlier this month, the Department of Education had not collected on defaulted student loans since March 2020. After the Covid pandemic-era pause on federal student loan payments expired in September 2023, the Biden administration offered borrowers another year in which they would be shielded from the impacts of missed payments. That on-ramp officially ended on Sept. 30, 2024, and the Education Department restarted collection efforts on defaulted student loans on May 5.
Whether borrowers face garnishment, or opt to resume payments to get current on their loan, that’s likely to have a significant impact on their wallet.
“It’s just money that can’t go to other financial things,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree. 
After the five-year pause ended and collections resumed, the delinquency rate for student loan balances spiked, the New York Fed found. Nearly 8% of total student debt was reported as 90 days past due in the first quarter of 2025, compared with less than 1% in the previous quarter.

Currently, around 42 million Americans hold federal student loans and roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default, according to the Education Department. Another 4 million borrowers are in “late-stage delinquency,” or more than 90 days past due on payments.
Among borrowers who are now required to make payments — not including those who are in deferment or forbearance or are currently enrolled in school — nearly 1 in 4 student loan borrowers are behind in their payments, the New York Fed found.  
As borrowers transition out of forbearance and into repayment, those borrowers may also face challenges making payments, according to a separate research note by Bank of America. “This transition will likely drive delinquencies and defaults on student loans higher and could have further knock-on effects for consumer finance companies,” Bank of America analyst Mihir Bhatia wrote to clients on May 15.
In a blog post, the New York Fed researchers noted that “it is unclear whether these penalties will spill over into payment difficulties in other credit products, but we will continue to monitor this space in the coming months.”

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Empire Wind 1 will be the first offshore wind project to deliver electricity directly to New York City.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered construction on Empire Wind to stop on April 16, despite the fact that it had been approved in 2024.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the White House has agreed to allow the project to move forward.
Burgum said he was encouraged Hochul’s willingness to move forward on natural gas pipeline capacity.

File: The wind farm in the Baltic Sea 35 kilometres northeast of Rügen is a joint venture of the Essen-based energy group Eon and the Norwegian shareholder Equinor.
Bernd Wüstneck | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Norwegian energy company Equinor will resume construction on its offshore wind farm in New York, after the Trump administration lifted its order to halt work on the project.
Empire Wind 1 will be the first offshore wind project to deliver electricity directly to New York City. The Interior Department under the Biden administration approved the project last year after Equinor signed a lease issued by the Department of Interior in 2017.

But Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered construction on Empire Wind to stop on April 16, alleging that the Biden administration rushed the project’s approval “without sufficient analysis or consultation among the relevant agencies as relates to the potential effects.”
The stop work order had raised fears among investors that the White House might target other wind projects that had already been permitted and approved.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday evening that Burgum and President Donald Trump agreed to lift the stop work order and allow the project to move forward “after countless conversations with Equinor and White House officials.” Empire Wind supports 1,500 union jobs, Hochul said.
Equinor said it aims to execute planned installation activities this year and minimize the impact of the stop-work order in order to reach its goal of starting commercial operations in 2027.

Apparent natural gas compromise

Burgum said he was encouraged by Hochul’s “willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity.”

“Americans who live in New York and New England would see significant economic benefits and lower utility costs from increased access to reliable, affordable, clean American natural gas,” the Interior Secretary said in a post on social media platform X.
Hochul did not mention natural gas in her statement, though she “reaffirmed that New York will work with the Administration and private entities on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements” under state law. New York has a history of opposing new natural gas pipelines.
Trump has targeted the wind industry, despite his agenda calling for the U.S. to achieve energy dominance. The president issued an executive order on his first day in office that barred new leases for offshore wind in U.S. waters and ordered a review of leasing and permitting practices.
Trump has a long history of attacking wind turbines dating back to at least 2012, arguing that they kill birds and cost more than they generate in revenue.
Empire Wind 1 started construction in the spring of 2024 and is more than 30% complete. Equinor has invested $2.5 billion in the project so far. The company is planning to build 54 turbines that are up to 910 feet tall. Empire Wind 1 will generate 810 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power half a million homes, according to Equinor.
Equinor Chief Financial Officer Torgrim Reitan called the Trump administration’s order to stop work unlawful, extraordinary and unprecedented during the company’s first-quarter earnings call April 30.
“We have complied with this order. However, the order did not include any information about the alleged deficiencies in the approval,” Reitan said.
Three other offshore wind projects are under construction in the U.S. all located on the Eastern Seaboard. They are Revolution and Sunrise Wind in New England and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind.
Dominion Energy is confident Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind will continue to move forward, CEO Robert Blue said on the company’s May 1 earnings call. It is 55% complete and will deliver electricity in early 2026, Blue said.
Orsted remains fully committed to Revolution and Sunrise Wind, CEO Rasmus Errboe said on the company’s May 7 earnings call. Revolution and Sunrise are about 75% and 35% complete respectively, Errboe said.

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The constant changes to tariff policies along with economic strain can create the “perfect storm for cybercriminals,” said Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions.
Legitimate fees on imported goods can make it even harder for consumers to spot scams.

South_agency | E+ | Getty Images

‘People don’t know a lot about tariffs’

Tariffs are taxes on goods imported from other countries, paid by the entity importing those goods. Businesses in turn often pass the cost of tariffs along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
In April, U.S. President Donald Trump enacted sweeping tariffs of varying rates affecting more than 180 countries and territories. Last week, the U.S. and China struck a deal to temporarily suspend most tariffs on each other’s goods. The U.S. also recently unveiled a trade agreement with the United Kingdom. 

Despite the recent trade agreements and deals, consumers still face an overall average effective tariff rate of 17.8%, the highest since 1934, according to a recent report by the Yale Budget Lab. 
James Lee, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, said it’s not unusual for scammers to take a government action — whether that’s a new program or policy — and use it for the basis of a scam.
Scammers “will use the fact that people don’t know a lot about tariffs,” Lee said.

The PreCrime Labs team at BforeAI, a cybersecurity company, discovered about 300 domain registrations from cybercriminals related to tariffs in the first few months of the year. Some spread misinformation while others are financial scams aimed at businesses and consumers.
One site the company found was a newly registered phishing domain positioned to lead consumers to believe they are required to make payments to a legitimate governmental entity.
“Such payment requests are likely to be spread using email or messaging campaigns with a theme of urgent, pending payments, directing victims to the fraudulent site where their actions will result in financial losses,” researchers noted.

Some package payment requests are real

There are some cases where consumers might legitimately pay for products purchased from another country, namely, customs duties. Sometimes the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will charge consumers a processing fee in order to release an imported good. 
“That’s not common, but it’s also not unusual,” said Lee. “It really does depend on what it is, where it’s coming from.”

Some consumers have also recently reported receiving legitimate payment requests from carrier companies after a purchase in order to receive their shipments, the Washington Post reports.
Some carriers are acting as the importer of record, meaning they are responsible for any duties, taxes and fees that are applied to the delivery, said Bernie Hart, vice president of customs of Flexport, a logistics firm.
If the carrier did not collect those additional fees for the product up front, the carrier will charge the end consumer those additional costs through a follow-up bill, he said.
This tactic might not last, because it creates a lot of inconvenience for both companies and shoppers, Hart said: “It’s not good for anybody in this process to give somebody a surprise bill.”

Tariff scam red flags

It’s easy for anyone to fall victim to a fraud scheme, said Ruth Susswein, director of consumer protection at Consumer Action. 
If tariff policies continue to be in flux for longer, criminals will have more time to craft sophisticated attacks on consumers, said the ITRC’s Lee. 
Your top priority is to avoid sharing personal information like Social Security numbers, bank details or account login credentials, especially under the guise of “tariff processing,” said Payton.
Here are three red flags to watch out for, according to scam experts:

1. Unsolicited and urgent messages

Emails, texts, or social media ads promising “tariff relief,” “vouchers,” “exemptions,” or urgent offers like “pay now to avoid tariffs” are likely scams, Payton said. 
Not only are legitimate retailers unlikely to encourage tariff evasion tactics, but also the urgency is meant to pressure consumers into accepting, she said.
Also question unsolicited phone calls, emails or text messages about a package held up in the post office because of an unpaid fee, said Lee.
If you receive a request to pay import fees or duties on a purchase, look for the form 7501, which is an official government document detailing the import, said Hart.

2. Suspicious site links, emails

Scammers will create fake websites, emails and phone numbers to mimic retailers or government agencies, Payton said. If you receive a message, check for misspellings and URLs or email addresses that don’t match that of the supposed company or entity — say, a message from a “U.S. government official” that does not come from a dot-gov email.
You can use tools like WHOIS, a database that stores information about registered domain names and IP addresses, to authenticate the website and confirm registration details, she said.

3. Lack of transparency

Reputable merchants would clearly label tariff-related fees at checkout and provide contact information for inquiries, Payton said. Otherwise, the “lack of transparency is a red flag.” More