(Headline USA) Biden administration officials are working to dole out billions in grants before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
“Let’s make every day count,” President Joe Biden said in an address to the nation last week after Vice President Kamala Harris conceded defeat to Trump in the presidential race.
Trump has pledged to rescind unspent funds in Biden’s landmark climate and health care law and stop clean-energy development projects.
“There’s only one administration at a time,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
“That’s true now, and it will also be true after Jan. 20,” he continued. “Our responsibility is to make good use of the funds that Congress has authorized for us and that we’re responsible for assigning and disbursing throughout the last three years.”
But Trump will control more than the purse strings come January. His administration also can propose new regulations to undo some of what the Biden administration did.
Biden administration officials hope that projects funded under the $1 trillion infrastructure law and $375 billion climate law will endure beyond Biden’s term and are attempting to ensure that money from the landmark measures continues to flow.
On Friday, Buttigieg announced over $3.4 billion in grants for projects designed to improve passenger rail service, help U.S. ports, reduce highway deaths and support domestic manufacturing of sustainable transportation materials.
”We are investing in better transportation systems that touch every corner of the country and in the workers who will manufacture materials and build projects,″ he said. “Communities are going to see safer commutes, cleaner air and stronger supply chains that we all count on.″
Announcements of major environmental grants and project approvals have sped up in recent months in what White House officials describe as “sprinting to the finish” of Biden’s four-year term.
The Environmental Protection Agency recently set a nationwide deadline for removal of lead pipes and announced nearly $3 billion to help local water systems comply.
The Energy Department, meanwhile, announced a $544 million loan to a Michigan company to expand manufacturing of high-quality silicon carbide wafers for electric vehicles.
The loan is one of 28 deals totaling $37 billion granted under a clean-energy loan program that was revived and expanded under Biden.
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters this week that Biden wants to “spend down the authority that Congress has allocated and authorized before he leaves office. So we’re going to work very hard to make sure that happens.”
The Biden administration would have to rush $7.1 billion in weapons—$4.3 billion from the 2024 supplemental and $2.8 billion that is still on the books in savings due to the Pentagon recalculating the value of systems sent—from the Pentagon’s stockpiles in order to spend all of those funds obligated before Trump is sworn in.
There’s also another $2.2 billion available to put weapons systems on long-term contracts.
However, recent aid packages have been much smaller in size, around $200 million to $300 million each.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
