The Latest: Trump cancels billions in clean energy grants
Oct 3, 2025, 4:46 AM | Updated: 8:26 am
The Trump administration is canceling $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
The move comes as Trump threatens deep cuts in his fight with congressional Democrats over the government shutdown.
The Energy Department said in a statement Thursday that 223 projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable.
Officials did not provide details about which projects are being cut, but said funding came from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and other DOE bureaus.
The cuts are likely to affect battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid and carbon-capture efforts, among many others, according to the environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
The latest:
White House budget director Russ Vought said the Trump administration will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas during the government shutdown.
The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the city’s Red Line train. Vought wrote on social media Friday that the money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”
He made a similar announcement earlier this week involving New York, where Vought said $18 billion for infrastructure would be paused, including funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he tried to distance himself from during the 2024 presidential campaign.
In a post on his Truth Social site Trump announced he would be meeting with his budget chief, “Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
The comments, posted on Thursday, represented an about-face for Trump, who spent much of last year denouncing Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s massive proposed overhaul of the federal government, which was drafted by many of his longtime allies and current and former administration officials.
The federal government was thrown into a shutdown Wednesday, as Democrats held firm to their demands to salvage health care subsidies that Trump and Republicans in Congress have dismissed as something to possibly discuss later.
Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce, threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs important to Democrats.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize has drawn added attention to the annual guessing game over who its next laureate will be.
Longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s prospects remain remote despite a flurry of high-profile nominations and some notable foreign policy interventions for which he has taken personal credit.
Experts say the Norwegian Nobel Committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals. Trump’s own record might even work against him, they said, citing his apparent disdain for multilateral institutions and his disregard for global climate change concerns.
Still, the U.S. leader has repeatedly sought the Nobel spotlight since his first term, most recently telling United Nations delegates late last month “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”
A person cannot nominate themselves.
