Biden Administration Goes on ‘Dangerous and Destructive’ Climate Spending Spree Ahead of Trump Inauguration

As the clock ticks down toward President-elect Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Congressional Democrats are urging President Biden to “move expeditiously” to disburse billions of unspent dollars for climate funding authorized in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In a letter sent to the president on Wednesday, Senator Markey, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and a slew of fellow Democratic lawmakers said that while the Inflation Reduction Act has already led to tens of billions of dollars in investments, there “are so many more good projects, good jobs, and good savings to unleash.” “To avoid future politicization or manipulation of climate programs, we ask that your agencies move expeditiously to disburse key climate and clean energy programs at the White House and the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the General Services Administration, and the U.S. Postal Service,” the letter reads.The letter comes as the Biden administration has already awarded more than $100 billion in climate and clean energy grants through the Inflation Reduction Act. The administration is racing to spend billions more before it hands over the keys to the Trump administration. “Crossing the milestone of $100 billion awarded shows just how quickly we’re getting these funds out the door and into communities so they can make a real difference for the American people,” a Biden senior advisor for international climate policy, John Podesta, told Reuters. The Biden administration is on track to disburse more than 80 percent of available IRA grant funding by the time Mr. Biden leaves office, a senior administration official told the outlet. The spending spree comes as Trump has promised to “rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.”“To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam,” Trump told the Economic Club of New York during remarks given in September. Meanwhile, a newly released video from an undercover investigative group, Project Veritas, indicates that the Environmental Protection Agency is scrambling to spend money “as fast as possible,” right up until the minute that Trump is inaugurated.“Now we’re just trying to get the money out as fast as possible before they come in and stop it all,” a special advisor for the EPA, Brent Efron, said in a recording purportedly taken with a hidden camera. “It truly feels like we’re on the Titanic and we’re throwing gold bars off the edge.”The funds, which are in the “billions with a B,” are going toward nonprofits, states, and tribes, he said. “We gave them the money because it was harder if it was a government-run program, they could take the money away, if Trump won. Because it was an insurance policy against Trump winning,” he said. Mr. Efron describes his job as helping with implementation of IRA funding, which he said, “until recently” meant “how do you make sure the proper processes are in place to prevent fraud and prevent abuse and ensure that we are funding good-paying jobs and that sort of stuff.”“Now it’s just how to get the money out as fast as possible before they come in and stop it all,” he said. The video, which has garnered more than 23 million views, caught the attention of Elon Musk, signaling that it could come under review by the Department of Government Efficiency. “The U.S. government is actively working to undermine the American people,” Senator Lee wrote on X in response to the EPA’s reported spending spiral. “We’ve empowered Washington to the point that it’s become dangerous and destructive.”The EPA is spending its “appropriated dollars with transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness,” a representative of the agency told the Sun in response to questions about the Project Veritas video.“EPA remains on track to a timeline we set years ago to award funds from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda,” the agency representative said. “These funds are benefiting millions of Americans, protecting communities from pollution and driving economic growth.”As the Biden administration rushes to push out its climate goals in its last few weeks, it’s receiving pushback from some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is the chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and two subcommittee chairmen sent a letter to the Department of Energy’s loan programs office on Wednesday insisting that the “Biden-Harris administration cease its campaign to quickly distribute federal funding before the incoming administration takes office.”The green loans, worth $25 billion, expose the federal government to excessive risk, including inadvertently funding foreign adversaries, the lawmakers wrote.“On Election Day, the American people rejected the Biden-Harris administration’s rush-to- green agenda,” reads the letter, provided to the Sun. It notes that the department has been “finalizing loans at an exponentially higher rate than that of the rest of the current administration’s tenure.”However, some Republican lawmakers may want to continue channeling the law’s largesse to their districts. Reuters reported in August that 18 Republican representatives urged Speaker Johnson not to revoke all of the IRA if Republicans take control of the House and Senate in November. Other Republican-friendly businesses and consumers could also lose tax breaks provided in the law for energy efficient investments.

Biden Administration Goes on ‘Dangerous and Destructive’ Climate Spending Spree Ahead of Trump Inauguration

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