In its last two working days, the Biden administration’s Energy Department signed off on nearly $42 billion for green energy projects—a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office had put out in the past decade. The frenzied activity on Jan. 16 and 17, 2025, capped a spending binge that saw the Loan Programs Office approve at least $93 billion in current and future disbursements after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election in November, according to documents provided by the department to RealClearInvestigations. It appears that Biden officials were rushing to deploy billions in approved funding in anticipation that the incoming Trump administration would seek to redirect uncommitted money away from clean energy projects. The money and the hasty way in which it was earmarked have drawn the attention of the Trump administration. “It is extremely concerning how many dozens of billions of dollars were rushed out the door without proper due diligence in the final days of the Biden administration,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement to RealClearInvestigations. “DOE is undertaking a thorough review of financial assistance that identifies waste of taxpayer dollars.” The enormous sums came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which injected $400 billion into the Loan Programs Office, a previously sleepy Energy Department branch originally intended to spur nuclear energy projects. That total represented more than 10 times the amount the Loan Programs Office had ever committed in any fiscal year of its existence. Prior to the postelection blowout, the office’s biggest fiscal year was 2024, when it committed $34.8 billion, records show. - https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/07/04/despite-warnings-bidens-energy-department-disbursed-42-billion-in-its-final-hours/
