Whitehouse Opening Statement at Spotlight Hearing on Trump’s Funding Freeze: “It’s Gangster Government”

“Behind Trump’s fog bank and pretexts, he and his un-elected co-president Musk are simply stealing from the American people to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy,” said the EPW Ranking Member

Washington, D.C.— Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), led EPW Democrats in holding a spotlight hearing, titled “Freezing America’s Progress,” to expose how the Trump administration’s illegal funding freezes, pauses, and other actions to claw back congressionally appropriated funds are threatening essential infrastructure, undermining money-saving clean energy projects, and killing jobs nationwide.  Not only is Trump’s chainsaw of chaos threatening to tank our economy and jeopardize U.S. global competitiveness, but he is also violating the Constitution. 

Ranking Member Whitehouse’s full remarks, as prepared for delivery:

We are now in week 8 of the second Trump administration.? 

In just two months, we’ve seen attacks on the rule of law, willful disregard for the Constitution, a funding freeze that is threatening to kill jobs and drive up energy costs for families, “trauma” inflicted on dedicated career staff at various agencies—the list goes on.?? 

Trump has created enough chaos to throw our economy into disarray and stoke fears of an impending recession.?  The Atlanta Federal Reserve just warned that we are facing a 2.5% drop in GDP this quarter, the worst economic slump our country has seen since the second quarter of 2020—the last time Trump was in office. 

Across the country, communities are reeling as Trump and his unelected billionaire co-president Elon Musk have taken a chainsaw to infrastructure funding, money-saving clean energy investments, and anti-pollution programs, all so they can pay for tax cuts for billionaires.    

This chaos and destruction may seem random.? But Trump is doing what he always does: reward his friends and punish his enemies. 

Pausing funding for discretionary grant programs at the Department of Transportation?  Leverage to reward friendly governors and punish those he doesn’t like.   

Killing clean energy projects, so extreme as to include ripping out already installed electric vehicle charging stations and selling back the federal EV fleet at a loss of $1 billion?  Payback for his oil and gas donors who will sell more oil and gas.  

And while the Trump administration rewards fossil fuel donors and guts climate safety investments, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s home base of Suffolk County was on fire.  On Long Island, fire season has still not officially started, but drought and dry conditions led to a brush fire over the weekend that burned 600 acres.

With this chaos and destruction, Trump is violating legal contracts, trampling on the Constitution, ignoring the rule of law, and flouting court orders. 

We’re here today to expose his destructive betrayal of the American people—and to fight back.?  

Today, we will hear more about the funding freezes, pauses, and attempted clawbacks at EPA and DOT; the legal lessons we can draw from this outrageous behavior; and the very real harms it is wreaking on American families and our entire economy.?  

The targets of this wrath include programs for roads, bridges, light rail, and bike lanes; clean drinking water; home renovations that reduce household energy bills; flood mitigation projects; safer school buses; zero-emission vehicle charging stations; community centers where seniors and families can go during heat waves and dangerous storms; and money-saving clean energy projects, including solar and geothermal.   

In Rhode Island, the aging of our bridges is being exacerbated by climate change. 

The Washington Bridge, a key artery of our state, has been shut down for over a year.  Small businesses on both sides of the span are suffering and bottlenecked traffic causes misery for drivers.  The project to replace the bridge was awarded grants from the MEGA and Infra programs, but it is waiting on both.

The beautiful and historic Mt. Hope Bridge requires upgrades to address the climate-driven corrosion of cables.  It was awarded a grant from the PROTECT Program—that could extend the life of the bridge by up to 75 years and save hundreds of millions of dollars—but the grant agreements must be finalized to access the funds.

Fifteen bridges on the I-95 corridor carry 185,000 vehicles daily and billions of dollars’ worth of freight.  That repair was awarded funding from the Bridge Investment Program under the bipartisan infrastructure law, but until the grant agreements is signed, there’s no access to the funds.  

EPA initially froze all grant funds, including those already under contract and obligated, despite two federal courts ordering the administration to release funds.?  They also froze school bus rebates for buses already ordered and ready to be delivered. 

Companies made investments based on the obligation of this funding. They hired workers.? They filled orders.? They drew up plans.  

In the confusion, with funding so erratic and uncertain, contracts are defaulted on, payroll is not made, jobs are lost, local government budgets are decimated.  

I call this disarray the “fog bank,” a fog of confusion behind which the administration can violate court orders, without a clear or specific act of contempt.  I expect as litigation proceeds, we will discover this “fog bank” strategy was a calculated ploy.  But court orders should be obeyed, not defeated through “fog bank” trickery.

Then there is the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Almost a year ago—long before the election—EPA awarded $20 billion to fund community clean energy and disaster resilience activities across the country.  

Like Hampton, Virginia, near many naval and air force installations, which plans to invest in infrastructure to reduce flooding risk. 

Or Lee County, Florida, which plans to build community centers to house residents during extreme weather events.   

The recipients range from the Virginia coalfields; to small towns across Georgia and North Carolina; to Lane County, Oregon and the City of Waco, Texas; and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota. 

After careful consultation, EPA contracted with Citibank to help grantees leverage billions more in private investment. One major award of nearly $7 billion of GGRF funding, is expected to attract 2-3 X times this amount in private investment for projects to lower utility bills, reduce air pollution, and make us less dependent on foreign oil cartels. 

But EPA feels obliged to Trump to terminate this already obligated, congressionally authorized funding that will lower household energy costs, spur economic development, and reduce pollution. 

So EPA schemed with DOJ and pretended there was fraud. The pretext was so bad that the Criminal Chief of the US Attorney’s Office for DC actually resigned rather than enforce DOJ’s politically motivated order. So the Trump U.S. Attorney pursued it himself, which almost never happens; and the judge denied the application, which almost never happens; and now the saga continues with an unexplained (and likely unpredicated) FBI investigation.  And just last night, on the eve of a court hearing over Climate United’s challenge to the freeze, EPA posts a video of Lee Zeldin alleging to cancel all $20 billion of the GGRF.   

Behind Trump’s fog bank and pretexts, he and his un-elected co-president Musk are simply stealing from the American people to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.  It’s gangster government.