Democratic politicians and their allies have been in a lather for months over President Trump and his administration, especially Elon Musk and his “DOGE” operation. The reason? They are exposing their bureaucratic slush funds to the public, including a big one at the Environmental Protection Agency.
The discovery in February of billions of dollars of payments to enrich favored climate groups and causes reveals a sordid taxpayer-funded scheme. The administration’s efforts to stop this gravy train threaten the climate house of cards built up for decades.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, revealed that $20 billion of the $27 billion climate slush fund known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was paid by the Biden administration to eight organizations. The purpose was for them to distribute to numerous other organizations for climate projects such as electric vehicle loans, solar panels, and much else in search of a climate crisis.
“This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight,” Zeldin said. In so doing, Zeldin described the scheme as “self-dealing and conflicts of interest, (and) unqualified recipients.”
Designated recipients of this massive taxpayer largess promptly sued in federal District Court. Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled in April that the EPA cannot freeze or claw back the funds under contract.
The administration immediately appealed the ruling by claiming the court has no jurisdiction and cannot overrule the executive branch’s authority to cancel a contract, which other courts have permitted involving other issues and agencies.
The following day, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals halted Chutkan’s order to disburse the funds to the climate groups to allow time for the case to be heard in full.
Government handouts to favored organizations, which distribute to other organizations, are like taxpayer cash flowing downstream as these ostensibly private entities act as bureaucracies to further a political agenda.
Great gig, if you can get it.
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