Joey Garrison,
USA TODAY
Sat, January 18, 2025
WASHINGTON ― The Biden administration has pushed out nearly all available funds from President Joe Biden's signature climate and economic laws as the White House works to ensure his "Investing in America" legacy survives the incoming Trump administration.
The federal government has awarded 99% of existing grant funding for clean energy, infrastructure and manufacturing projects, totaling about $750 billion, according to a new 75-page White House report obtained by USA TODAY that breaks down the spending before Biden leaves office Monday.
The distributed funds include only money available through the 2024 fiscal year ‒ underscoring Biden's reliance on the Trump team to maintain future spending.
Biden touted the progress report ‒ which outlines what Biden calls "the most significant investment in America since the New Deal" ‒ during remarks Friday afternoon to mayors gathered in Washington for the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting.
"New roads, bridges, clean water, affordable high-speed internet for every American," Biden said in one of his final presidential addresses before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in Monday. "I know each you can cite so many examples of projects in your community. There's thousands of them.
"We also made the biggest investment in fighting climate change ever in the history of the world ‒ not just America," Biden said.
(Read full report here.)
More: President Biden warns of 'oligarchy' as he bids farewell to five decades in politics
President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2025.
The awarded grants represent available money in the current fiscal year or earlier from massive spending packages that stretch out a decade: a $1 trillion infrastructure law, $53 billion in subsidies for microchip companies from the CHIPS and Science Act, and about $400 billion for clean-energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act, including incentives to support the manufacturing of products like electric cars, solar panels and batteries.
About 90% of the existing grant funding has been formally obligated, meaning the government has entered into a binding contract with the recipient of the grants.
More: Tarnished legacy? How Biden’s age and refusal to pass torch earlier hang over his exit
A Form Energy battery factory can be seen currently under construction on land formerly occupied by the Weirton Steel Company, Aug 28, 2023 in Weirton, WVA, United States.
The final spending allocations follow what White House chief of staff Jeff Zients in a White House memo last month called a "sprint to the finish line" with Biden charging his administration to award as much funding as possible.
More: Regrets, precedent and legacy: 7 takeaways from Biden's exclusive interview with USA TODAY
Yet as Biden prepares to leave the White House, he has expressed frustration about the disconnect between projects that can take several years to materialize and Americans' immediate economic anxieties about inflation.
"I think that we would've been a hell of a lot better off had we been able to go much harder at getting some of these projects in the ground quicker," Biden told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview earlier this month. "There are things that are going to create enormous wealth and work out there, but it takes time."
By the numbers: Biden's climate and economic record
The report on Biden's spending programs breaks down the status of infrastructure and other projects. It also includes projections if the Trump administration carries out the infrastructure spending. Highlights include:
82,000 infrastructure and clean-energy projects underway
200,000 miles of road repairs underway (356,300 miles of highway are on track to be repaired by the end of 2026)
12,300 bridges are under repair (20,800 bridges on track to be repaired by the end of 2026)
18 of the nation's most economically significant bridges have received funding for repairs
1 million lead pipes on track to be replaced by end of 2028
3 million homes and businesses connected to high-speed internet
100 gigawatts of clean energy generation created through clean-energy investments
5,000 miles of major new electric transmission lines erected to improve electric grid resilience
$1 trillion in private-sector investments in clean energy and manufacturing in the United States
299 federally funded electric vehicle charging stations through the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which provides funding to states to expand the nation's EV charger network
207,000 EV chargers are now publicly available nationwide, the White House says, putting the U.S. ahead of Biden's goal for a network of 500,000 EV charging stations by 2030.
300,000 Americans who have received $7,500 tax credits to purchase new electric vehicles or $4,000 tax credit to buy a used electric vehicle
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY
Biden protects 84% of IRA clean energy grants from being clawed back
FILE PHOTO: California plans to launch an experiment to cover its aqueducts with solar panels
Fri, January 17, 2025
By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has protected about 84%, or $96.7 billion in clean energy grants created by its signature climate law from any clawback by the next administration, a White House official said on Friday.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
The 84% of the grants from the Inflation Reduction Act have been "obligated", meaning contracts have been signed between U.S. agencies and recipients. The outgoing administration hopes this will help to continue the deployment of clean energy even after Monday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic who has pledged to rescind all unspent IRA funds.
BY THE NUMBERS
Here are examples of programs that have been obligated. About 94% of Department of Energy funding for state energy efficiency rebate programs for home retrofits and appliances, or about $8.8 billion, has been obligated. A U.S. Department of Agriculture program to help electric co-ops to procure more clean energy has been 97% obligated, or about $9.45 billion. At the Environmental Protection Agency, some $38 billion has been obligated, with 100% in a greenhouse gas reduction fund obligated and about 94% of all of its IRA grant programs obligated.
Some $11 billion has been announced but not obligated. Much of that is for upcoming fiscal years and for USDA programs.
KEY QUOTES
“This is all big progress and ensures that these investments should actually flow to communities and recipients as intended,” Kristina Costa, a deputy assistant to Biden and director of the clean energy office at the White House, told Reuters.
Even though some $11 billion in funds are not obligated, the fact that they have been announced publicly “creates some political pressure to not rescind those commitments, particularly in areas where those programs are going to Republican states and districts in rural areas and otherwise,” Costa said.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Sat, January 18, 2025
WASHINGTON ― The Biden administration has pushed out nearly all available funds from President Joe Biden's signature climate and economic laws as the White House works to ensure his "Investing in America" legacy survives the incoming Trump administration.
The federal government has awarded 99% of existing grant funding for clean energy, infrastructure and manufacturing projects, totaling about $750 billion, according to a new 75-page White House report obtained by USA TODAY that breaks down the spending before Biden leaves office Monday.
The distributed funds include only money available through the 2024 fiscal year ‒ underscoring Biden's reliance on the Trump team to maintain future spending.
Biden touted the progress report ‒ which outlines what Biden calls "the most significant investment in America since the New Deal" ‒ during remarks Friday afternoon to mayors gathered in Washington for the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting.
"New roads, bridges, clean water, affordable high-speed internet for every American," Biden said in one of his final presidential addresses before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in Monday. "I know each you can cite so many examples of projects in your community. There's thousands of them.
"We also made the biggest investment in fighting climate change ever in the history of the world ‒ not just America," Biden said.
(Read full report here.)
More: President Biden warns of 'oligarchy' as he bids farewell to five decades in politics
President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2025.
The awarded grants represent available money in the current fiscal year or earlier from massive spending packages that stretch out a decade: a $1 trillion infrastructure law, $53 billion in subsidies for microchip companies from the CHIPS and Science Act, and about $400 billion for clean-energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act, including incentives to support the manufacturing of products like electric cars, solar panels and batteries.
About 90% of the existing grant funding has been formally obligated, meaning the government has entered into a binding contract with the recipient of the grants.
More: Tarnished legacy? How Biden’s age and refusal to pass torch earlier hang over his exit
'Really hard to reverse'
Trump has threatened to roll back many Biden policies on climate and energy outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act, which the then-Democratic-controlled Congress approved in 2022 before Republicans took power in the House.
But the contracting process effectively safeguards many projects. A future administration cannot rescind or withdraw grants awarded to private companies from the CHIPS Act or other laws ‒ even if the funding hasn't gone out ‒ unless the recipient is found in breach of contract, the White House says.
Biden is also betting the clean-energy factories and other projects are so popular in red-leaning districts and states that congressional Republicans will lack the political will to roll back the policies.
"I think the change that we have seen over the last four years through these investments is really hard to reverse," said Natalie Quillian, Biden's outgoing White House deputy chief of staff. "And I think you're not just seeing it from the federal government, you're seeing it from the private sector. You're seeing it from state government. You're seeing it from local government."
Trump has threatened to roll back many Biden policies on climate and energy outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act, which the then-Democratic-controlled Congress approved in 2022 before Republicans took power in the House.
But the contracting process effectively safeguards many projects. A future administration cannot rescind or withdraw grants awarded to private companies from the CHIPS Act or other laws ‒ even if the funding hasn't gone out ‒ unless the recipient is found in breach of contract, the White House says.
Biden is also betting the clean-energy factories and other projects are so popular in red-leaning districts and states that congressional Republicans will lack the political will to roll back the policies.
"I think the change that we have seen over the last four years through these investments is really hard to reverse," said Natalie Quillian, Biden's outgoing White House deputy chief of staff. "And I think you're not just seeing it from the federal government, you're seeing it from the private sector. You're seeing it from state government. You're seeing it from local government."
A Form Energy battery factory can be seen currently under construction on land formerly occupied by the Weirton Steel Company, Aug 28, 2023 in Weirton, WVA, United States.
The final spending allocations follow what White House chief of staff Jeff Zients in a White House memo last month called a "sprint to the finish line" with Biden charging his administration to award as much funding as possible.
More: Regrets, precedent and legacy: 7 takeaways from Biden's exclusive interview with USA TODAY
Yet as Biden prepares to leave the White House, he has expressed frustration about the disconnect between projects that can take several years to materialize and Americans' immediate economic anxieties about inflation.
"I think that we would've been a hell of a lot better off had we been able to go much harder at getting some of these projects in the ground quicker," Biden told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview earlier this month. "There are things that are going to create enormous wealth and work out there, but it takes time."
By the numbers: Biden's climate and economic record
The report on Biden's spending programs breaks down the status of infrastructure and other projects. It also includes projections if the Trump administration carries out the infrastructure spending. Highlights include:
82,000 infrastructure and clean-energy projects underway
200,000 miles of road repairs underway (356,300 miles of highway are on track to be repaired by the end of 2026)
12,300 bridges are under repair (20,800 bridges on track to be repaired by the end of 2026)
18 of the nation's most economically significant bridges have received funding for repairs
1 million lead pipes on track to be replaced by end of 2028
3 million homes and businesses connected to high-speed internet
100 gigawatts of clean energy generation created through clean-energy investments
5,000 miles of major new electric transmission lines erected to improve electric grid resilience
$1 trillion in private-sector investments in clean energy and manufacturing in the United States
299 federally funded electric vehicle charging stations through the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which provides funding to states to expand the nation's EV charger network
207,000 EV chargers are now publicly available nationwide, the White House says, putting the U.S. ahead of Biden's goal for a network of 500,000 EV charging stations by 2030.
300,000 Americans who have received $7,500 tax credits to purchase new electric vehicles or $4,000 tax credit to buy a used electric vehicle
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY
Biden protects 84% of IRA clean energy grants from being clawed back
FILE PHOTO: California plans to launch an experiment to cover its aqueducts with solar panels
Fri, January 17, 2025
By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has protected about 84%, or $96.7 billion in clean energy grants created by its signature climate law from any clawback by the next administration, a White House official said on Friday.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
The 84% of the grants from the Inflation Reduction Act have been "obligated", meaning contracts have been signed between U.S. agencies and recipients. The outgoing administration hopes this will help to continue the deployment of clean energy even after Monday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic who has pledged to rescind all unspent IRA funds.
BY THE NUMBERS
Here are examples of programs that have been obligated. About 94% of Department of Energy funding for state energy efficiency rebate programs for home retrofits and appliances, or about $8.8 billion, has been obligated. A U.S. Department of Agriculture program to help electric co-ops to procure more clean energy has been 97% obligated, or about $9.45 billion. At the Environmental Protection Agency, some $38 billion has been obligated, with 100% in a greenhouse gas reduction fund obligated and about 94% of all of its IRA grant programs obligated.
Some $11 billion has been announced but not obligated. Much of that is for upcoming fiscal years and for USDA programs.
KEY QUOTES
“This is all big progress and ensures that these investments should actually flow to communities and recipients as intended,” Kristina Costa, a deputy assistant to Biden and director of the clean energy office at the White House, told Reuters.
Even though some $11 billion in funds are not obligated, the fact that they have been announced publicly “creates some political pressure to not rescind those commitments, particularly in areas where those programs are going to Republican states and districts in rural areas and otherwise,” Costa said.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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