Trump administration admits cutting $7.5bn from states that voted against him

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The dispute over billions of dollars in cancelled clean energy grants has shifted from a question of budget priorities to one of open political criteria. In court documents, federal officials stated that funding for energy projects was halted "based solely" on whether the states in question backed Donald Trump in the 2024 election, according to the New York Times. That acknowledgment cuts against the administration's own public framing of the decision, which had been presented as an urgent correction needed to protect public money. The cancellation at issue, carried out in October, covered more than $7.5 billion in Biden-era federal grants for clean energy projects, as reported by Folha de S.Paulo. With the electoral rationale now stated in the administration's own filings, the matter rests with the courts, where the affected states' challenge to the cuts is being litigated. The immediate consequences for the individual projects, and how judges will weigh the stated criterion, remain unresolved on the basis of the available reporting.

In October, the Trump administration cancelled more than $7.5 billion in federal grants awarded under Joe Biden for clean energy projects, according to Folha de S.Paulo. At the time, the administration described the move as an urgent measure to safeguard public money. The decision was challenged in court by affected states, and the resulting filings have become the central source of information about how the cuts were decided. In those documents, federal officials said the funding was halted "based solely" on which states voted for Trump in the 2024 election, as reported by the New York Times.