Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / President Trump admin admits cutting billions in grants to blue states

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President Trump admin admits cutting billions in grants to blue states · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: A stunning admission from the Trump administration. Officials from the
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  Speaker 1: Department of Energy now acknowledge they cut billions in federal
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  Speaker 1: grants explicitly because those grants that money was supposed to
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  Speaker 1: go to states that didn't vote for President Trump in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. When it announced the cuts in October,
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  Speaker 1: the Trump administration said that it had quote determined that
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  Speaker 1: these projects didn't adequately advance the nation's energy needs, weren't
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  Speaker 1: economically viable, and wouldn't provide a positive return on investment
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  Speaker 1: of taxpayer dollars. Now we know that was not true.
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  Speaker 1: In recent court documents first reported by The New York
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  Speaker 1: Times this afternoon, the Trump administration acknowledged that decisions around
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  Speaker 1: the grants were made quote based solely on the political
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  Speaker 1: identity of the grant recipient state, i e. Whether the
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  Speaker 1: recipient's location and or place of performance was in a
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  Speaker 1: blue state or a non blue state end quote. The
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  Speaker 1: White House and the Energy Department did not respond to
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  Speaker 1: the New York Times request for comment, but listen to
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  Speaker 1: how the Energy Secretary Chris Wright explained these cuts when
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  Speaker 1: he spoke to CNN the day after they were announced.
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  Speaker 2: All of the contracts that we're told that are being
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  Speaker 2: canceled that were listed by the Budget Director are states
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  Speaker 2: that Kamala Harris won. So are you punishing only blue states?
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  Speaker 1: Not at all. This is a partial list of an
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  Speaker 1: ongoing process.
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  Speaker 3: More project announcements will come.
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  Speaker 1: This is a remarkable state of affairs that the federal
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  Speaker 1: government would do something like this, Lulu, I was kind
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  Speaker 1: of watching you as we were walking through this. What
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  Speaker 1: does it say? I mean, there have been so many times,
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  Speaker 1: especially during the second Trump administration, when we look at
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  Speaker 1: the way things have historically been and we look at
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  Speaker 1: the way that Trump administration, particularly President Trump, is doing
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  Speaker 1: them now, and we note that a norm has been broken.
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  Speaker 1: This is certainly another thing on that list, but a
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  Speaker 1: really remarkable and stunning one. Even though it may seem
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  Speaker 1: like the contents are kind of dry, but the implications
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  Speaker 1: are enormous.
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  Speaker 4: The implications are enormous. First of all, they lied, so
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  Speaker 4: that's the first thing. And the difference is they lied
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  Speaker 4: to a journalist, but they can't lie in court, and
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  Speaker 4: so there it is in black and white. The second
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  Speaker 4: part of this is think about what this means. What
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  Speaker 4: has happened here is the Trump administration has taken away
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  Speaker 4: money to politically punish its enemies, and that means money
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  Speaker 4: that is taxpayer money from the American people. It is
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  Speaker 4: deciding that because a state voted one way or the other,
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  Speaker 4: they are not getting those funds which they are legally
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  Speaker 4: entitled to have. This is unprecedented in modern American history
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  Speaker 4: to do this in such a calculated fashion, and I
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  Speaker 4: think it should be sobering to everyone.
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  Speaker 3: I have to imagine this is going to get challenged
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  Speaker 3: in the courts, and it is at this point because
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  Speaker 3: my understanding is that these are congressional appropriated funds and
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  Speaker 3: it is incumbent on members of Congress to advocate for
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  Speaker 3: every grant that comes into their district that comes back
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  Speaker 3: to their state. And the fact that this is happening
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  Speaker 3: is honestly quite predictable. I suspect I have no idea
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  Speaker 3: if Chris Ray even knew this was happening. But this
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  Speaker 3: has been a priority of O and B Director russ
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  Speaker 3: Votes for some time, which is to clawback funds from
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  Speaker 3: blue states to increase funds on projects that the administration
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  Speaker 3: backs to red states. A lot of this was laid
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  Speaker 3: out in Project twenty twenty five. So in that regard,
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  Speaker 3: it's not a surprise, but to see it in plain
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  Speaker 3: language in English is a bit jarring.
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  Speaker 2: And it's actually something that that President Biden called out
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  Speaker 2: specifically during his time in office and said that he
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  Speaker 2: was intentionally, in part, putting some of these clean energy
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  Speaker 2: projects in red states and exactly red districts to make
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  Speaker 2: it harder for a future Republican president, now Donald Trump
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  Speaker 2: to execute on exactly this kind of thing. So it's yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's not a secret. It's something that Trump has been
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  Speaker 2: very clear. He has continuously used his power as president
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  Speaker 2: of the United States in a manner that is divisive
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  Speaker 2: and a break historically from what presidents used to do,
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  Speaker 2: which is view themselves as presidents for all Americans, regardless
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  Speaker 2: of who they voted for. And Donald Trump's break from
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  Speaker 2: that is a massive historical shift and one that has
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  Speaker 2: lasting consequences.
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  Speaker 4: But I I just want to reiterate again, Yes, see
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  Speaker 4: it coming seen it in lots of different ways, in
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  Speaker 4: the way that this administration has behaved in just in
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  Speaker 4: their language talking about people who vote a different way
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  Speaker 4: in incredibly derogatory and insulting language. But again, the fact
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  Speaker 4: that this is now laid out in black and white.
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  Speaker 4: The reason that this is now breaking news is because
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  Speaker 4: there was, first of all, a very clear lie, and
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  Speaker 4: second of all, they have acknowledged something that they were
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  Speaker 4: trying to hide. They really were trying to hide it.
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  Speaker 4: They were trying to pretend it was something else, and
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  Speaker 4: now we know what it was.
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  Speaker 1: Michelle Goodwin, Can.
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  Speaker 5: I liked it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Can you weigh in? Please go ahead?
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  Speaker 5: Yes? Well, because we shouldn't see this in isolation. Either
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  Speaker 5: what's ringing in my ears or Justice Alito scoffing and
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  Speaker 5: laughing during the Supreme Court hearing involving the immunity decision
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  Speaker 5: during oral arguments where the issue came up about whether
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  Speaker 5: this would be a retribution that would be at the
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  Speaker 5: forefront of Donald Trump, there was the scoffing about that
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  Speaker 5: that Justice Alito did. And what we've seen in the
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  Speaker 5: Trump administration through this and otherwise with regard to federal
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  Speaker 5: grants has been retribution has been to punish critics, punish enemies,
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  Speaker 5: and in this way, punish voters. In each of these
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  Speaker 5: blue states where there are the taking away of these funds,
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  Speaker 5: there are also Republicans who pay taxes in those states
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  Speaker 5: who will not receive and did not receive the benefits
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  Speaker 5: of this kind of the what was earmarked for energy
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  Speaker 5: in those states, And as Lulu was saying, this is
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  Speaker 5: it's outlandish in terms of what this means in terms
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  Speaker 5: of a breach of a rule of law, in terms
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  Speaker 5: of norms, in terms of ethics of this office. And
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  Speaker 5: I think one thing that actually marks the second administration,
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  Speaker 5: and one could see the signs of it in the
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  Speaker 5: first Trump administration, really is a kind of roguishness when
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  Speaker 5: it comes to matters of the rule of law. And
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  Speaker 5: in that regard, we even see from the Supreme Court,
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  Speaker 5: the conservative justices leaning in and expressing that when it's
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  Speaker 5: come to whether we're talking about tariffs and how this
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  Speaker 5: president has behaved or where we've talked about other issues
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  Speaker 5: involving finance and this administration.
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  Speaker 1: Kristin Sultas Anderson, it's a good point that Michelle makes
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  Speaker 1: about the fact that Republicans live in these states, right
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  Speaker 1: and they are impacted by this. Now we can put
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  Speaker 1: up what Russ Vote said about this at the time.
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  Speaker 1: This was back in October. He said, nearly eight billion dollars.
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  Speaker 1: They call it the Green New scam, Green New Deal
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  Speaker 1: funding to fuel the left's climate agenda is being canceled,
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  Speaker 1: and then he lists out the states. Now, notably, there
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  Speaker 1: are a couple swing states that could be on here
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  Speaker 1: that don't seem to be on here that but maybe
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  Speaker 1: that's just a coincidence. What is your view of I mean,
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  Speaker 1: how Americans are going to look at this?
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  Speaker 6: Well, I think Americans already are very cynical about the
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  Speaker 6: way Washington works, which is part of how Donald Trump
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  Speaker 6: got elected, but is also part of how in some
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  Speaker 6: ways I think he kind of gets away with things that,
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  Speaker 6: you know, make people feel outraged, where sort of average
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  Speaker 6: voters are like, yeah, politicians are corrupt and they give
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  Speaker 6: projects to their friends. It is true that for a
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  Speaker 6: long time, politicians who develop significant seniority and influence in
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  Speaker 6: Washington have taken federal dollars and sent it back to
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  Speaker 6: their own districts and their own states in the form
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  Speaker 6: of pork barrel projects and so and so. In sort
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  Speaker 6: of it's essentially baked into the way that people think
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  Speaker 6: that these decisions are already being made, which is unfortunate
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  Speaker 6: because we know that that's not necessarily the case, that
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  Speaker 6: a lot of voter cynicism is not always necessarily justified.
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  Speaker 6: There were good public servants out there trying to do
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  Speaker 6: good things, and that in many cases, building America's energy
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  Speaker 6: infrastructure and states red and blue is going to be
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  Speaker 6: important for our country's future.
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  Speaker 1: But I think that's politically how I actually.
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  Speaker 6: Am not sure that something like this is going to
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  Speaker 6: become like a blockbuster for voters because so many of
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  Speaker 6: them are like, oh, of course, politicians always just send
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  Speaker 6: money to their friends.
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  Speaker 3: I tend to agree. I don't think this breaks through
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  Speaker 3: with Republican voters. I find it stunning, But I worked
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  Speaker 3: in the federal government. I'm not the average lay Republican voter.
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  Speaker 3: I think for most people it does feel like, well,
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  Speaker 3: this is what Washington does, and Trump may even be
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  Speaker 3: rewarding Republicans over Democrats. But what I think people need
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  Speaker 3: to consider is green energy also probably not the sexiest
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  Speaker 3: topic among Republicans, but consider if it was something else.
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  Speaker 3: Think if it's disaster relief funds that they're withholding from
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  Speaker 3: blue states. We all have loved ones in blue states,
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  Speaker 3: even if we might vote Republican. Like that's where I
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  Speaker 3: think it might have more of an impact. And people
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  Speaker 3: are like, wait, wait, wait, my government supposed to be
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  Speaker 3: responsive to all of us, but this I don't know
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  Speaker 3: that I think it breaks This's what about jobs.
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  Speaker 4: This is also about these money. This money had to
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  Speaker 4: do with investing in things that were going to create jobs.
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  Speaker 4: And so even if you absolutely don't care what happens
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  Speaker 4: to anyone in a blouse state, you know, do not
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  Speaker 4: care about the economy of the country. Are we now
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  Speaker 4: what's seceding different places because of where they voted from.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, this is actually counterproductive, even from the president's
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  Speaker 4: own personal viewpoint.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's also true.
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  Speaker 2: It's also true that there's a difference between you know,
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  Speaker 2: as you note Kristen, there's a difference between a member
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  Speaker 2: of Congress or a senator bringing money back to his
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  Speaker 2: orhear state, which is really actually what they're elected to do.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, there's a difference between that and making
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  Speaker 2: a blatantly political decision about money, infrastructure, jobs and the
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  Speaker 2: way I think that while I certainly agree with both
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  Speaker 2: of your points, that will think that Washington has broken
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  Speaker 2: and you know, corrupt, And but where I do think
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  Speaker 2: this hurts Trump is it underscores a big political problem
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  Speaker 2: that he has, which is that people don't think that
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  Speaker 2: he's focused on doing what's right for them. They think
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  Speaker 2: he's focused on doing what's right for him, and this
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  Speaker 2: is this is another very blatant example of that