President Donald Trump asked federal agencies a fairly basic question when he returned to office: What exactly are taxpayers still paying for? For billions of dollars flowing from two of the Biden administration’s signature spending laws, the Department of Energy came back with an answer.
The Department of Agriculture came back with something closer to, “We reviewed it.”
Great! What survived?
Well, about that.
Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, “Unleashing American Energy” order directed agencies to pause certain disbursements under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act while they reviewed whether the spending aligned with his administration’s policies.
It was a sweeping order, but the assignment itself wasn’t complicated: Review the money and determine what should continue.
The GAO recently examined how the USDA and Energy handled those reviews. Together, the two departments received about $164 billion in budget authority from the laws for programs covered by the GAO’s examination, so this wasn’t an exercise involving loose change found under Washington’s couch cushions.
Energy’s paperwork allows us to follow what happened. By the end of its review, Energy reported that 381 awards totaling about $19.6 billion would continue, while another 155 awards totaling approximately $9.1 billion were terminated.
Whatever you think about those decisions, there’s a scorecard.
The USDA is where things get interesting. The department received approximately $37 billion for the programs the GAO examined and obligated $32.2 billion during fiscal years 2022 through 2025. The USDA officials said their reviews were completed by June 30, 2025, and reported terminating 34 contracts worth approximately $67 million.
