The Trump administration is going to new lengths to derail Biden-era funding despite several court orders overruling the freeze. At the Energy Department, employees must now seek approval from a senior political appointee before disbursing money from former President Joe Biden’s climate and infrastructure laws, writes Peter Behr. Georgetown University law professor David Super called the move “highly extraordinary.” “Not normal housekeeping,” the administrative and constitutional law expert told Pete. In a more extreme move, the administration fired a top official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (along three other employees) after she doled out payments to house migrants that had been “obligated” under Biden months earlier, writes Thomas Frank. Such obligations are a “legally binding commitment,” the Congressional Budget Office has noted — but the Trump administration has declared it has sweeping power to block money that doesn’t match its own priorities. Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans was dismissed for “circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement, providing no other information about any alleged wrongdoing. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X today that she “clawed back” the payments. While the freeze on some environmental funding has been lifted, other holds have since been imposed. On Friday, top Environmental Protection Agency budget officials issued a memo announcing plans to "temporarily" pause some programs to review whether they're in "compliance" with new policies. The chaotic and uneven implementation of President Donald Trump’s move to bypass congressional appropriations in concert with billionaire and temporary government employee Elon Musk’s downsizing regime has created an atmosphere of fear and confusion among federal workers and beyond. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said this week he will “follow the law” when it comes to disbursing energy project payments committed under Biden. But Vice President JD Vance has advocated for ignoring court orders that he says “illegally” intrude on the president’s power. Trump weighed in on Truth Social blasting the courts. “Activists and highly political judges want us to slow down, or stop. Losing this momentum will be very detrimental to finding the TRUTH,” he wrote. Musk — whose bureaucracy-slashing gang of volunteers has moved deeper into the nation’s federal agencies, accessing sensitive data, shuttering programs and placing staff on leave — denied accusations that he is orchestrating a “hostile takeover” of the government. Standing next to Trump in the Oval Office during a press briefing Tuesday, the South African-born tech mogul said that “the people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get.”
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