Trump administration admits it canceled clean-energy grants in states that voted for Kamala Harris

Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of abusing its power after officials admitted in a federal court filing they recommended terminating several billion dollars in grants for clean-energy projects based "solely" on states' "political identity" and whether President Donald Trump won the vote there in the 2024 election. In a July 15 filing that is part of a class action lawsuit seeking to overturn the decision, officials said the Energy Department sent to the Office of Management and Budget a list of more than 600 grants it recommended be canceled from recipients in states where former Vice President Kamala Harris won the vote, and that have two senators that caucus with Democrats. In the July 15 filing, the DOE said it "accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state, i.e., whether the recipient's location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, called DOE's admission "unprecedented Trumpism and something we should never become numb to." Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called it "a deep betrayal of America" and "massive partisan retribution." The article contextualizes the move within Trump's broader second-term retribution efforts, citing earlier attempts to freeze $10B in social service funding to blue states and FEMA's release of disaster aid that left out Democratic-led states.