The Trump administration recently accused a Biden-era “green bank” program of mishandling approximately $20 billion in funds and is now seeking to claw back the money. The money was intended to help underserved communities access solar energy, heat pumps, EV charging, and more.
Under former President Joe Biden’s leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved to allocate approximately $20 billion to the green bank program, officially known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The funds were placed in a financial agency agreement, which places the money in the custody of a private bank. Reportedly, the move was believed to have protected the funding from the Trump administration.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin recently shared a video statement claiming the Biden administration’s days of financial mismanagement are over. “There will be zero tolerance of any waste and abuse,” Zeldin said before calling out shocking instances of wasteful spending over the past several years and vowing to undo it.
He added, “An extremely disturbing video circulated two months ago featuring a Biden EPA political appointee talking about how they were ‘tossing gold bars off the Titanic’, rushing to get billions of your tax dollars out the door before Inauguration Day, the gold bars were tax dollars, and tossing them off the Titanic meant the Biden administration knew they were wasting it.”
Zeldin asserted, “Fortunately, my awesome team at EPA has found the gold bars, shockingly, roughly $20 billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA. This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight.”
The administrator shed further light on the taxpayer funding allocated to the NGOs. “Even further, this pot of $20 billion was awarded to just eight entities that were then responsible for doling out your money to NGOs and others at their discretion with far less transparency. Just under $7 billion was sent to one entity called the Climate United Fund,” she said.
Zeldin called on his agency to assume responsibility for what occurred. “EPA needs to reassume responsibility for all of these funds. We will review every penny that has gone out the door. I will be referring this matter to the Inspector General’s office and will work with the Justice Department as well,” he continued. “The days of irresponsibly shoveling boatloads of cash to far left activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity are over.”
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Watch Zeldin below:
Ultimately, Zeldin highlighted the Trump administration’s goal of restoring trust in the federal government amid unprecedented skepticism from the American people. “The American public deserves a more transparent and accountable government than what transpired these past four years. We take our obligations under the law as seriously as it gets,” he said.
Outlining the efforts to claw back the funds, he added, “I’ve directed my team to find your gold bars, and they found them. Now we will get them back inside of control of government as we pursue next steps, as President Trump has vowed, we are going to usher in a new golden age of American success, citizens of every race, religion, color and creed.”