“President Trump will rapidly defeat inflation and bring down all prices by ending the Democrats’ anti-energy crusade, which will cut energy prices in half during his first 12 months in office,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman, told the DCNF in a written statement. “He will also terminate the Green New Scam and rescind all unspent funds from the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ and redirect them to spending on real infrastructure.”
As the Biden-Harris administration rushes to formally obligate tens of billions in IRA funding before Biden leaves office, President-elect Trump is moving forward with plans to repeal the IRA and redirect all leftover spending from Biden’s climate law to spending on infrastructure. The incoming Trump administration’s vow to reprogram remaining IRA funding could face legal challenges due to restrictions on reallocation within the congressional appropriations, and failure to spend as Congress directed could violate a Nixon-era budget law that forces the executive branch to spend money appropriated by Congress.
Potentially Billions In Unspent IRA Funds
The IRA, which passed on party-line votes with no Republican support, appropriated nearly $105 billion for “climate” spending. The Biden administration does not appear to be on track to formally obligate this massive sum before president-elect Trump takes office, which could grant Trump control over tens of billions of dollars in leftover IRA funding when he returns to the Oval Office in January.
The Biden-Harris Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may leave the Trump administration with at least $3.5 billion in unspent IRA funds, including more than $1.5 billion in “environmental justice” grant spending, according an EPApress release from Aug. 16, which stated the agency is on track to obligate more than $38 billion of its IRA funding by Dec. 31.
Reviving The President’s ‘Impoundment’ Authority
Trump vowed to repeal Biden’s $1.2 trillion climate law and rescind all unspent funds on the campaign trail, dubbing the IRA the “Green New Scam” in a speech at the New York Economic Club in September. Neither Trump nor his team have previously commented on the incoming administration’s plan to redirect unspent IRA fundings to spending on infrastructure.
Leavitt’s pledge that the president-elect will seek to reprogram all unspent funds to infrastructure spending could subject the incoming administration to litigation for violating the IRA and the 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act — the omnibus bill that appropriated the vast majority of IRA funding — according analysis from the left-leaning Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University Law School.