The US Department of Energy has conceded in a court filing that it cancelled 7.6 billion dollars of clean-energy grants last year based only on whether recipient states voted Democratic.
The US Department of Energy has admitted that politics alone drove one of its largest funding decisions. In a filing dated 15 July, the department said last year’s cancellation of 7.6 billion dollars in clean-energy grants was “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state”. The New York Times first reported the filing on 24 July.
DOE cancelled 223 clean-energy project grants in October 2025. Every one sat in a state that voted for former Vice-President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Several of those cancellations have since been overturned in court.
What the filing says
The filing conceded that none of the 2025 cancellations rested on “any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction, or performance-based factor”. The department said the grants were included “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state, i.e., whether the recipient’s location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State”.
DOE offered these details to avoid the court’s discovery process. The admission contradicts earlier statements that the projects were dropped on merit.
Backlash from lawmakers
Democratic lawmakers reacted sharply. Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut called the filing a “stunning admission” that the administration is “weaponizing the federal funding process to punish people who did not vote for President Trump”. She warned that a wider proposal could normalise the approach.
The Sierra Club said it would keep fighting what it called a “retaliatory agenda”. Holly Bender, the group’s chief program officer, said the administration was “brazenly admitting to a vindictive approach” that ignored job losses, air pollution and higher bills.
A wider funding fight
The dispute sits inside a broader argument over federal grants. In May, the Office of Management and Budget proposed a process giving agencies more control over how grants are awarded. Representative Brittany Pettersen of Colorado led a coalition urging OMB to withdraw it.
In a letter to OMB Director Russell Vought, the lawmakers said the rule would shift decisions “away from an established, neutral criteria” and let appointed officials choose which communities receive support. They called it a sharp break from long-standing guidance.
DOE’s position
A DOE spokesperson told the New York Times that an initial review of the 2025 cancelled grants was completed without political considerations. The department has not reconciled that account with the language in its own filing.
The courts may settle the question. Judges have already reversed some cancellations, including 82.1 million dollars in grants struck down in June. Further legal challenges are likely as recipients test the basis for the cuts.
