In Arizona, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 99.5% of all companies, employing over 40% of the state’s workforce. My family’s business, The Pines Inn & Suites, is proud to be one of them.

Many American small businesses are in limbo, waiting to see how they’ll be impacted by the escalating trade war and a freeze on federal grants. Dozens of Arizona business owners say they were counting on federal grants to help them expand and improve. One of them is Rachel Opio, an urban farmer in Phoenix who owns the Little Lighthouse Farm in her backyard. “I’m truly here to steward the land and regenerate the soil while feeding the community real food: nutrient-dense produce,” she said.

Riding a boom that stretched across the country, Arizona set a record in 2024 for new solar capacity installed in the state. The Grand Canyon State added 1,793 megawatts of solar capacity within its borders in 2024, its highest amount yet and the sixth-most of all states, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight 2024 Year in Review report released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie.

CozyHome had customers lined up to upgrade their AC systems with state grants. Donald Trump’s freeze ended that program.

As a veteran who has proudly served this nation, I cannot stand by while the Trump administration once again puts corporate polluters ahead of American workers, veterans, and our national security. His reckless federal funding freeze and executive orders targeting clean energy programs, including critical investments from the Inflation Reduction Act, is an attack on the very industries that provide stable, good-paying jobs for Arizona veterans and hardworking Americans.

Groundswell Capital provides low-interest loans for solar and HVAC systems, sewer, rain harvesting and more Lower-income communities are less likely to adopt rooftop solar systems, according to a Department of Energy study. As the demand for sustainable energy rises, a new program called Earthwise is paving the way for homeowners in Arizona to access eco-friendly home improvements like rooftop solar without the traditional financial burdens.

he nation’s first solar-powered cobalt processing facility will break ground next year in Yuma County, a $300 million project subsidized by a big federal investment in climate-friendly projects. The plan is one of two dozen projects underway in Arizona catalyzed by the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden in August 2022. The law set aside $370 billion to promote clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.