Trump administration admits canceling clean energy grants to Democratic states | Trump administration

The Trump administration admitted it canceled more than $7.5 billion in federal grants to states for clean energy projects “solely” based on whether they supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

US federal officials appeared to accept this court documents Last week, they announced they were ending funding “based solely on political criteria” last October, targeting projects in states represented by Democrats that voted for Kamala Harris.

Management before framed continues to insist that this move, meant to protect taxpayer dollars from “waste,” is not politically motivated.

“[The Department of Energy] Government attorneys acknowledge in the filing that neither the inclusion of the ARCHES grant nor any other grant in the October notification bracket was based on any programmatic, legal, cost-cutting or performance-based factors.

“[The Department of Energy] Recognizes that the inclusion of grants in the October reporting bracket is based solely on the political identity of the state receiving the grant, i.e. whether the recipient’s location and/or place of performance is in a Blue State or a Non-Blue State.

“[The Department of Energy] “We will not argue that consideration of the political identity or geographical distribution of sub-beneficiaries of grant funds looks beyond the primary grantee(s).”

Open confession reported for the first time by New York Times.

A spokesman for the US energy department said of the report in a statement on Friday: “This is a misrepresentation of the court filing. None of the termination decisions were based on political considerations.”

The spokesman claimed that the acknowledgment of political considerations “referred to the timing of the announcement, not to the decisions themselves”.

References originate from a source caseLast June, a brief was filed by a group of six University of California faculty members and other researchers challenging various federal agencies withholding Biden-era funding.

The plaintiffs said in a press release at the time that the sudden cancellation of grants that had already been awarded was part of the administration’s “political ‘cost-cutting’ agenda and ideological purity campaign.”

This comes as the White House seeks to assert greater control over billions of dollars in annual federal grants by aiming to have Trump political appointees review all federal grants with the authority to block or cancel large amounts of funds if they do not comply or align with Trump’s priorities.

According to a 400 pages “Discretionary awards, where applicable, must clearly advance the President’s policy priorities,” the proposed rule on federal financial aid, released May 29, said.

They must also comply with other standards set by the White House, including not promoting “un-American values,” rejecting the “gender binary in humans” and using “racial preferences” in selection criteria.

per last week application to courtThe energy department had reviewed financial aid awards and compiled a list last September that recommended canceling more than 600 grants awarded by the Biden administration for a wide range of clean energy projects in states represented by both Republicans and Democrats.

But in October, the White House budget office led by Russell Vought finalized only 284 of those grants. vought announced In

Last week, federal officials appeared to acknowledge that the decision was driven entirely by politics. “With one exception, 284 terminated grants had a recipient location and/or at least one enforcement location in a state with two Democratic caucus Senators who cast their electoral votes for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election (“Blue State” grants),” the court filing states.

The energy department, meanwhile, left in place hundreds of other energy grants in the state, which is represented by Republicans and voted for Trump in 2024; However, the ministry recommended that these be scrapped as well.

Last month, Trump’s energy secretary, Chris Wright, appeared before the House science, space and technology committee to defend his department’s fiscal 2027 budget request. “No decisions have been made regarding politics,” he insisted.

The Guardian reached out to the White House.