BANGOR — Clean energy advocates are calling on Congress to reject proposed cuts to clean energy tax credits, saying they will drive up energy prices and force jobs to move out of state.

“In Maine and across the country, people are finally seeing the benefits of rooftop solar, affordable electric vehicles and clean manufacturing jobs,” said Lucy Hochschartner, climate and clean energy director of Maine Conservation Voters. “This bill would derail those gains and abandon the communities that are counting on them.”

In addition, one of the proposals would terminate home energy tax credits that help pay for insulation, heat pumps and reductions in home energy bills, she said.

Last week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said the cuts are necessary to preserve other programs “for the most vulnerable.” He said the proposal “achieves significant savings while slashing Green New Deal spending.”

The uncertainty around the future of the credits is already causing some Maine companies to delay or end projects that had been in the pipeline, said Jacob Norris, a journeyman electrician in IBEW Local 1253.

During a news conference in Bangor’s Peirce Memorial Park Norris said he and “hundreds of other” electricians are unsure if there will be any more work in the clean energy sector.

“Currently, in my local, around half of the apprentices have been laid off from work for months without the option of travel as their licenses limit them to the state of Maine,” he said.

Cheyenne Gallivan of the Maine Labor Climate Council said other workers are leaving the state because projects that had been planned in Maine are being canceled.

“Iron workers from Maine are heading to Virginia to work on offshore wind projects because we’re not moving forward with those projects in our state right now,” she said. “Solar workers are traveling as far as Indiana building data centers because the solar projects in Maine have dried up due to the funding uncertainty.”

Action on the clean energy tax credits is expected in Washington over the coming weeks.