President Donald Trump listens as billionaire Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday. | Alex Brandon/AP
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.”
It's Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net.
We’ve re-imagined and expanded our Inside Congress newsletter to give you unmatched reporting on Capitol Hill politics and policy -- and we'll get it to your inbox even earlier. Subscribe today.
Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Ben Lefebvre breaks down how Trump's new 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports could affect energy-related industries.
Power Centers
Elon Musk speaks at a presidential inauguration event. | Matt Rourke/AP
Musk's crew lands at EPA Aides with Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency have been granted "read-only" access to EPA's vast contracting system that details millions of dollars in agency spending, writes Kevin Bogardus.
That system could provide ample fodder for the Trump administration’s push to slash federal funding and government staffing.
Trump's latest threat to climate policy Trump has given EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin one week to decide whether the agency can overturn the 2009 scientific finding that underpins all greenhouse gas rules — known as the endangerment finding, writes Jean Chemnick.
Such a move would invite fierce legal battles, but if successful, it could accelerate Trump's efforts to dismantle a host of climate rules enacted under Biden, while erecting legal hurdles for future administrations that want to curb climate pollution.
Report: Climate change threatens EU’s survival Germany’s federal intelligence service partnered with researchers and the country’s foreign office to draw up a first-of-its-kind assessment of the dangers that climate change poses to German and European security over the next 15 years, writes Zia Weise.
The new report shows that climate change’s destabilizing effects will drive up migration and food prices, threatening economic and political upheaval in Europe. The authors also warn that the unequal impact of rising temperatures in the EU — with southern countries hit worse than others — risks tearing the bloc apart.
In Other News
Oil tycoons worth knowing: You already know Elon Musk. You need to know Harold Hamm.
New study: Russia's war with Ukraine raised flight emissions by 1 percent as planes were rerouted.
A new era in Washington calls for sharper insights. Get faster policy scoops, more congressional coverage, and a re-imagined newsletter under the leadership of Jack Blanchard. Subscribe to our Playbook Newsletter today.
Subscriber Zone
A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.
A 3D visualization of geophysical data collected over the Idaho Cobalt Belt. | USGS
Trump's wish list for acquiring new U.S. territories and making deals includes areas with a major feature in common: access to critical minerals.
Three science reports have disappeared from the website of the federal entity Congress charged with leading a review of climate science every four years.
The House Budget Committee released its blueprint for Republicans' party-line reconciliation bill that could open the door to repealing or modifying Democrats’ 2022 climate law.
A federal judge for a second — and final — time has scrapped a lawsuit launched by California youth to hold EPA accountable for planet-warming emissions.
