This Bluesky thread was written by former Obama and Biden administrator, Zealan Hoover:
I ran $100 billion in Infrastructure and IRA programs at EPA. We obligated over $70 billion onto signed awards and contracts to protect public health and the environment. All that funding is currently frozen. Here are the facts…
On January 20, Trump signed Executive Order 14154 (“Unleashing American Energy”) that directed agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds” from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Law (IIJA/BIL). NOTE: EOs do not give agencies special power to break the law.
Not paying grantees with signed grant agreements is illegal. While there are certain activities EPA has discretion to pause, such as designing new competitions and making new awards, once a grant award is signed with a grantee the government is legally obligated to pay them.
This obligation to pay is clearly enshrined in 2 CFR § 200.305. Law states, “The recipient…MUST be paid in advance” unless on reimbursement in which case the agency still “MUST make payment within 30 calendar days after receipt of the payment request.” www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/2/2…
On Jan. 27, OMB issued M-25-13. This memo directed agencies to “pause” all activities related to “assistance for…DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal” by 5pm on Tuesday. EPA’s CFO then issued an internal memo immediately freezing all BIL & IRA funds.
On Jan. 28, several lawsuits were filed to stop the funding freeze from taking effect. U.S. District Judge AliKhan issued such an order, which led to widespread reporting that the freeze was over. This was NOT TRUE – funds were still frozen across the government.
The judge’s order stayed implementation of the OMB memo but not the Executive Order itself. OMB withdrew the memo but EPA and other agencies continued to block all funds by pointing to the authority of the EO. The WH Press Secretary made clear that the freeze was still in effect.
In response, newyorkstateag.bsky.social led 22 states in suing Donald Trump and the federal agencies to reinstate the legal flow of funds. As of Friday afternoon, I expect the judge to issue such an order compelling EPA and others to turn funding back on.
The illegal funding freeze still in effect is an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars. Across the country, projects are pausing construction and laying off staff. This will slow work to replace lead pipes, install clean energy, recover from storms, and clean up contaminated land.
Up to $50 billion in EPA funds are currently frozen across programs including: +Brownfields +Clean School Bus +Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs +Climate Pollution Reduction Grants +EJ Community Change +Solar4All +Superfund
There are real ramifications for what they are doing for real people. I think many of these are actual “kitchen table issues” and I think we need to see Democrats fanning out all over the country to tell this story. People aren’t paying attention because they are depressed about the election or they just think politics is a bunch of white noise. And they will probably continue to for some time. But taking a page from Trump’s Attention Book, you just keep repeating it over and over again over time and people will finally absorb what you’re saying.
And in this case it has the benefit of being true.